Metro PD close to you
by Lexy3643
Summary: This is basic the metro pd game but I've re-written the MC so she's a bit more kick ass and i've added a few things into the story. This story followed the Tennoji route. Freya Stone joins the 2nd unit detective agency and ends up getting partnered with Tennoji. She is determined to prove him wrong and show just how good of a detective she can be
1. Chapter 1

Metro pd closes to you

"So, you caught him?!" An old woman asked me.

"We did! He's a repeat offender, I'm glad we were able to get him off the streets quickly." I said.

I was sat on the police station talking to a civilian.

"I'm so relieved! Thank you, Officer Stone." She said.

"It's fine, there's no need to thank me. It's all because of your eyewitness info, Ma'am." I said.

"Is that so Freya?" Mr Sato asked.

"Mr Sato! How's everything going?" I asked.

"Great! Your advice really helped with our peeping-tom situation." He said.

I smiled "Thanks."

"I put that gravel down outside the window, like you said. Now, you can hear it whenever someone walks by. The peeping-toms don't come around anymore."

"I'm glad. I couldn't just let them get away with peeping on girls trying to take a bath." I said.

I worked in the West Arai Police Department Community Safety Unit, I was a detective. I was still a newbie, it was only my second year on the force. My father was in the military and my mother lived with him on a military base.

"We can rest easy with you around, Officer Stone." The old lady said.

"We're in good hands with a talented detective like you here." Mr Sato said.

I smiled "Thanks."

I didn't deal with serial killers, terrorists, the mafia or anything but I was helping create a safe community for people. Which was just as an important job. People came to me with their problems, and we'd work to solve them together. When I got more experience, I wanted to do more serious crimes.

The two civilians left my office, I was sat at my desk and started to tidy away files.

"Are you detective Stone?" Someone said as they came into my office.

I looked up and saw a young man stood in front of me, he had short wispy hair and a small beard on his chip. He wore a light grey suit with a pink tie and white shirt.

"Yes, may I help you?" I asked.

"You're going to the MPD." He said.

"Excuse me?"

"You're moving to the Metro Police Special Investigations Unit, today. Look." He said and handed me a piece of paper.

Who was this guy? I felt like I had seen him somewhere before.

"Notice of personnel transfer, Detective Freya Stone is hereby transferred from West Arai Community Safety Unit, to the Metropolitan Police Special Investigations: 2nd unit. Effective Immediately." I read aloud.

"See?" He said with a strange smile.

"Transferred? But I haven't heard anything about this." I said.

"Well yeah, obviously. This is my first time telling you." He said.

"Yeah but you can't just come in here and tell me this just out of the blue."

"It's a promotion. The guys in the Special Investigations are our best and brightest. They go after the big dogs." He said.

"Really?"

"Well, they're definitely a little eccentric too, though." He said with a laugh.

This was all happening so fast, but why now.

"Anyway, good luck!"

"Hey, wait. You haven't even told me your name." I said and stood up from my desk.

"Oh sorry about that. I'm Nomura, with the Metro PD. Remember that name. Bye." He said.

He left before I could say anything else.

A few hours later, I was stood in front of the Metro Police Department. The building looked huge! I couldn't believe I was standing here, I was quite excited. I was finally going to be working with the best detectives and I was going to be stopping the real bad guys.

A man in a three-piece suit approached me.

"What brings you to the MPD today?" He asked.

"I start work here today." I said.

"I see, well then you should hurry and go. Someone'll think you're suspicious, loitering around here." He said.

His gaze was intense but I matched it.

He then spun around and headed straight into the building, was he a detective as well?

I walked towards the building, guards stood by the main doors watching everyone as they entered the lobby. As I entered the lobby, I accidentally walked into someone.

"Oh sorry." I said.

I dumped into a tall, thin, dark haired man. He looked down at me with an expressionless face.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." I said.

He seemed to look right through me, as if he didn't even seem to notice me standing here.

"Zzzz..."

Was he snoring?

He moved closer to me and for the first time, he seemed to actually notice that I was here.

"Huh? Wha?" He said.

Hmmm… Ok… I started to take a step back from this creep. I just needed to get to the elevator and get away from him.

"Shusuke, good morning!" Someone called out.

I turned and saw a young man walking towards us, he looked a little young to be working here.

"Oh! A girl! Cool! I've never seen you before. Do you work here?" He asked.

"Yes, I just started today."

He grinned, he looked like a 12 year old and he wore casual clothes. I was surprised, everyone here seemed to wear suits. I even did my best and wore a black pants suit.

"Wait a minute… you.." he said suddenly.

He then moved from side to side, analyzing my face from all angles.

"You look like one of those.. um.. you know, those things!"

"What things?" I asked.

"What're they called? Uh.. you know, those.. Ok ok! I remember. A capybara!"

"Huh? A what?" I asked not sure if I heard him correctly.

I didn't know how to react, should I be angry or shocked?

"You see the resemblance too, right, Shusuke?"

"Yeah… I'm not really seeing it.." the sleep man said.

Just then, another man approached us. He had short brown hair, wore a greyish/brown suit with a white shirt and blue tie and wore glasses.

"What're you guys hanging out here for? You're going to be late for the meeting." He said.

"Katsuyuki! Check it out. Doesn't this girl look just like one of those things?" the young guy said.

"What is 'one of those things?'"

"Er.. what was it called? I just said it. You remember right?" the young man turned and looked at me.

"A capybara." I said.

"Yeah, yeah that's it. That!"

The new man then turned and looked at me.

"Who goes around comparing themselves to a capybara?"

"I wasn't, he said that I looked like one." I said and pointed to the young man.

These guys were weird, I just hoped that I wasn't working with them.

"Four." The new man said,

"Pardon?" I asked.

"There is it, Katsuyuki's rating." The young man said.

"Rating for what?" I asked.

"Hmm.. a four. Not bad, right Shusuke?" the young man said.

"Sleepy." Shusuke mumbled.

"Well, this isn't the time to be messing around. We're going to be late for the meeting. Let's go." Katsuyuki said.

"Oh yeah. We'd better hurry, Later Capybara." The young man waved enthusiastically before the three of them walked off.

That was weird. Oh well, I needed to hurry or I'd be late for my first day. I walked into the elevator and pressed the button for floor seven.

Someone then ran into the elevator, getting crushed in between the doors.

"What're ya trying to do, crush me?!" a man shouted.

I quickly pushed the button to open the doors and he stepped into the elevator.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you coming." I said.

He was a tall, well-built man with dark red hair.

"You've gotta look first. Psh.. no manners."

"Excuse me?!"

"What? You got somethin' to say about it?" he demanded glaring at me.

"Yeah I do! You say I've got no manners, what about you yelling at a stranger? I already said I was sorry to back off!" I shouted back and matched his glare.

He sneered at me and turned away.

The elevator doors closed the it started to move. He then took his phone out from his pocket.

"Whoa!" he shouted.

"What?" I asked.

"Yeah! Yesss! We won!" he cheered.

He jumped and punched the air with his right fist.

"Thank you! Thank you! Now the Tigers'll be able to make it all the way."

So he liked baseball?

"Today's gonna be an awesome day! I can feel it!"

Full of confidence, he sauntered off the elevator with a big smile on his face.

Whatever. Now, where do I go now. I reached into my handback and pulled out a piece of paper with direction to the office of my new department.

I walked down the hallway checking the signs on the doors as I went till I came to a door labeled, Special Investigations Unit.

I opened the door and came to a busy office, filled with desks and computers.

"Excuse me." I said to a man that was stood nearest to the door. He wore a dark suit and had his hair gelled back to perfection.

"Yes?"

"I'm detective Freya Stone from West Arai. Is this the Special Investigation Unit? I start work with you guys today."

"I haven't heard anything about that." A second man with glasses said.

"Really?" I asked.

"Oh I know, you must mean back there." A third man said and pointed to a door in the back of the room.

"Oh, over there, yeah." The first man said and also pointed.

"That's where they keep the really excellent detectives." The second man, his voice full of sarcasm.

"That whole room's way to elite for us. We're not even allowed in." the third said.

What was with their attitude? Did they not like them?

"You must be looking for them." The first said.

"You definitely don't belong here in 1st unit." The second on said.

"I mean, are you even really a detective?" the third asked.

"Of course I am! Who do you think you are?" I demanded.

"What's the 2nd unit thinking? Bring this little princess up here.." the first one said. "Oh well, it's not the 1st unit's problem."

"Whatever, excuse me." I said and shoved past them.

How arrogant could you get? I'll show them. I headed for the door they pointed to and on the do it said, Special Investigation 2nd unit.

This was it, I wondered what my new team were going to be like?

I opened the door and stepped into a room, there was a huge desk in the middle facing a huge window that looked out onto the city. It had six computers on the desk, each making a work space. Five men were stood around the table and a man with wavy black hair was stood by the desk. He had a cigarette in his mouth.

"Hey, may I help you? Are you the new kid?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm Freya Stone from the West Arai Police." I said.

"Yeah, we heard from Nomura. Hey everybody, the newbie's here!"

He turned towards the middle of the room and the five guys turned around. I froze and silently sighed, all five men were the men that I had met as I came here.

"What? Ms Suspicious from before?"

"Capybara?"

"The four?"

"No manners?"

The guy that was sleepy just stared at me.

"Well look at that, you guys are all buddies already." The man with the cigarette laughed.

"I wouldn't say that." I said.

I was going to be working with these guys? I couldn't believe it, talk about making a bad first impression.

"Ok anyway, the newbie's name is.. hey, what was your name again?" the man with the cigarette asked.

"Freya Stone, from the West Arai Community Safety Unit. It's nice to meet you all." I said and put on my best smile.

"Don't just stand there, hurry up and introduce yourselves." The man with the cigarette ordered.

He must be the boss.

"I'm Kazusa Hanai. So, you weren't a sketchy loiterer you're a detective." The first man said with a smile.

He was the first one that I met outside the building.

"Of course I am, I wouldn't be here otherwise." I said.

"My name's Yutaka Tennoji. I hate the Giants and girls with no manners." The second guy said.

He was the one who I met in the elevator. I could tell we weren't going to get along, I was tempted to poke my tongue at him but this wasn't the time or the place. I just smiled before turning to the next guy.

"I'm Eiki Yachigusa. I'm actually from the NYPD. I'm here in Tokyo for training." The young guy said with a beaming smile.

He was the one who compared me to an animal earlier.

"It's nice to meet you." I said.

He then caught me off guard with a kiss on my hand.

"Just a little New York-Style greeting for you!"

"Um.. thanks." I said and pulled my hand back.

"Ok, ok that's enough. I'm Katsuyuki Kyobashi. But you've probably heard my name around before, you don't seem that clueless." The next guy said.

He was the one that rated me a four. Was he a famous detective or something?

"Uh. Let's see and lastly there's Asano!" he moved to go back to his seat and called Asano over.

"I'm Shusuke Asano."

He was the one who looked like he was sleeping downstairs, he kind of creeped me out.

"And I'm Hiroshi Kirisawa." The man with the cigarette said.

"Kirisawa's the head of the 2nd unit." Hanai said.

"He's our boss." Tennoji said.

I nodded "I look forward to working with you all."

They all remained silent.

"Did I say something wrong?" I asked.

"Come on guys, give her a better reaction than that!" Kirisawa said.

"Boss, are you sure this girl's a detective?" Hanai asked.

"Why was she transferred here?" Tennoji asked.

"Hmm. I dunno." Kirisawa said.

What?

"She doesn't seem like a detective, does she?" Hanai said.

"Do you have some kind of special skill? Like, are you a great shot or an explosives expert or something?" Tennoji asked.

It felt like I was being interrogated.

"Yeah, what's your thing?" Kirisawa asked.

"My thing?" I asked.

"We're not asking if you do impressions or something." Kyobashi said.

"Yeah I know. I have experience in the military, I was in the army for 12 months." I said.

"Really? What did you do in the army?" Hanai asked.

Before I could answer, we received a transmission over the PA system.

"Emergency Dispatch! Emergency Dispatch! We've received information regarding a bomb threat at Ohi Warf. All personnel move out."

The relaxed atmosphere in the room quickly disappeared, everyone immediately readied to move out.

"Let's go!" Kirisawa ordered.

"Yes sir!" We all said at once.

"Stone, you're coming to." He said.

"Yes sir." I said and followed everyone out of the room.

My first case with my new team, I was so excited I practically skipped out of the room.

We arrived at Ohi Warf.

"Hanai, what do we know about the bomb threat?" I asked.

"We received a tip-off from someone living in the area. Apparently, he went to investigate an illegally parked car and overheard someone discussing plans for a bombing." He said.

"Is that information reliable?" I asked.

"We have to act on the assumption that it is." He said.

I nodded.

"Everyone, split up and get ready to head in." Kirisawa said.

"Yes sir." The men all said.

"Stone, stay here. Wait for reinforcements and relay my orders to them." He said.

"Yes sir."

That was it? I wasn't going in? I tried my best not to look too disappointed, this was my first job after all. They probably wanted to go easy on me to begin with.

"Here, this two-way radio will connect you with boss." Kyobashi said.

"Thanks." I said and took the ear piece and pushed it into my right ear.

"Alright, everybody keep your eyes peeled, let's head in." Kirisawa ordered.

Everyone all headed off into different directions, they were completely different to before. They all looked so serious and very professional.

As I stood there waiting, a masked figure ran out of the shadows where I was standing. Before I could react, they grabbed me from behind and twisted my arms behind my back. I felt rope being tied around my wrists.

"Let me go!" I shouted and struggled.

Using my foot, I kicked upwards catching them in the groin. I heard them cry out and I was let go, I started to run forwards when a second figure in black jumped on top of me pinning me to the ground.

"Stop! Let me go!" I shouted and tried to struggle free.

The covered my mouth with their hand and I was dragged off.

I was pushed into a dark room and fell to the floor. I was helpless, I had both hands tied behind my back. Maybe if I wasn't tied up, I could take them both. They stood over me, they both wore black clothing, sun glasses and white masks that covered the bottom half of their faces.

"You're only making it worse for yourself by doing this. Reinforcements are on their way as we speak, there's nowhere for you to run." I said trying to sound confident.

One of the men took out a small box, he pressed a button on the box.

*beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep*

The box started to make a noise.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

That noise sounded like a countdown, was it a bomb?

The second man then removed a floorboard, the first man placed the bomb on the floor before both of them disappeared down into the passageway.

"A secrete passageway?" I gasped.

I stood up and walked over to the box, there was a red countdown clock. There was only 5 seconds left on the clock. I spun around and started to run as fast as I could to get away from the bomb.

*Beep* *beep* *beep* *beep* *beep*

BOOM!

"Freya! Wake up." A voice shouted in my ear.

Why were they so close? Who were they?

"Stone, open your eyes!" another voice shouted.

Waited, that was Hanai and Tennoji.

I tried to open my eyes but my body didn't respond, I felt completely numb. My head pounded, what happened to me?

"Ugh.." I groaned in pain as I tried to move my stiff body.

I finally managed to open my heavy eyelids, all the guys from the 2nd unit were gathered around me.

What happened? Oww!

I tried to move but pain thrashed up my right leg.

The room was filled with smoke and the smell of gunpowder. Was there a gun fight? Tennoji's face was immediately in front of my own, that's when I realized that he was holding me in his arms.

He was staring at me intensely. Why was I in his arms?

Ok just think for a minute, what was the last thing that I was doing? I was standing around waiting for something…

"Oh, you opened your eyes." Tennoji said.

He cupped my cheek in his hand and looked down at me.

"The explosion knocked you unconscious."

Explosion?! There was an explosion? I tried to speak but I my mouth just wouldn't work.

"You might be in shock." He said.

My head felt heavy, I couldn't focus on anything.

"Yo. You listen' to me?" he said loudly trying to catch my attention.

Everything was spinning, I tried my best to focus but everything was such a blur. What had happened? Why couldn't I remember?

"Hey! Hey! Getta hold of yourself."

He lightly slapped me on the cheek in an effort to rouse me.

I then heard Hanai's voice in the distance.

"Hey, quit slapping her around."

"Shut up. You don't get to give me orders." Tennoji said.

"Did she regain consciousness?" Asano asked.

"Yeah, but she's not responding to what I'm saying." Tennoji said.

"She must've taken a blow to the head." Yachigusa said.

"Or maybe Tennoji's scary face is just too much for her?" Kyobashi said and I swear I heard him laugh.

"Who you callin' scary?!" Tennoji said sounding angry.

Things finally to stop spinning, I could see Tennoji's face clearly in front of me and things started to come back to me. I was waiting for backup when I was attacked and two guys set off a bomb.

Kirisawa knelt down beside me and spoke in a calm voice.

"Stone, do you know who I am?" he asked.

"Yes, you're my new boss." I said.

"You were in an explosion. There are burns and cuts all over your body. An ambulance is on it's way. Before the ambulance gets here, I want you to tell me one thing." He said.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you remember what the perp looked like? You're the only one who saw the bomber up close. Do you remember anything about him?" He asked.

I thought back but things were still very fuzzy.

"Well-"

Before I could answer, an EMT came running towards us.

"Who's injured?" he asked.

They first tried to put me on a stretcher.

"I don't need that, I'm fine." I said and tried to stand.

My legs instantly gave way, Tennoji caught me before I hit the floor.

"Stone, take it easy." He hissed.

He stood up and lifted me up onto the stretcher before the EMT started to take me towards the ambulance.

This was so embarrassing.

"Hold up for just a minutes, we're police. She's a detective in our unit." Kirisawa said.

"Whatever it is, it'll have to wait. This is a race against time." The EMT said.

They pushed their through everyone and loaded me up into the ambulance.

"Miss Stone, you're going to be ok." The EMT said to me.

"Thanks." I said.

I was taken straight to hospital, the doctors gave me a full check over and ran a variety of tests. I ended up staying in hospital for a couple of days for observation. Burns covered my entire my body, the biggest was on my right leg. Nurses dressed and cleaned all of my wounds.

The entire time I was in hospital, I tried to run the whole event through my mind. I remember waiting for backup, those two guys attached me. I kicked one in the groin, they tied me up and brought me to the room. After that, all I remember is fire, sparks and feeling like I was floating in the air. But I had no memory of the perp's face, but why? Surely if that attacked me I should have seen them clearly. It didn't make any sense.

A few days later, I was finally released from hospital. No one from the unit came to visit me from hospital, I wondered if they had solved the case yet?

I was stood outside the building; this was going to be my first day back since the incident.

"Freya?" I heard Yachigusa say.

I turned around and saw him stood behind me, smiling.

"Hey Yachigusa."

"You don't have to be so polite, just call me Eiki." He said.

"Ok Eiki."

"Hmm.. that's better. You were released from hospital today, right? How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Just a few cuts and burns, nothing serious." I said.

"Nice. So you're on the case starting today." He beamed.

"Yes, I want to put the guy who did this to me behind bars!"

He laughed "That's the spirit." He laughed.

We headed inside the building together.

"I'm curious, what is the 1st unit?" I asked as we got into the elevator.

The just popped into my head as we came in, when I first came here I had to walk through their office to get to the 2nd unit. They were total jerks!

He remained silent for a moment "They're the ones that everyone respects, people say they are the best of the best. Us on the other hand.. well, everybody's always calling us 'The Misifts'." He said.

"The misfits?"

"Yeah and Yutaka, is basically the king of misifts. He used to be in the 1st unit, but he and the head of the 1st unit didn't get along so he was kicked out and transferred to the 2nd unit." He explained.

Yutaka Tennoji.. he was the one holding me when I woke up after the explosion.

"Yutaka is the number one case-closer in the whole metro PD. Kazusa is number two, by the way."

"Really? How about the other two, Asano and Kyobashi? What're their stories?" I asked.

"Shusuke Asano is cool. He's pretty quiet. You can never really tell what he's thinking. Katsuyuki is really smart, but he can be a little intimidating at first." He said.

They sounded like a good team.

"Don't get me wrong, we're a good team. I'm more or less use to Tennoji's unique charm at this point. And speaking of Tennoji, he visited you in the hospital a bunch of times."

"Really? That was nice of him." I said.

The elevator then dinged as it reached the 7th floor.

"Crap. It looks like we're going to be a little late." He said.

"For what? It's only 08:30am." I said.

"We have a morning meeting today, let's hurry!"

He broke into a run, I matched his paced and followed behind. We both entered the 2nd unit office.

"No clues?! How is that possible?!" Kirisawa said angrily as we came in. "Hanai, who owns the factory where the explosion took place?"

"The Suzuki shipping company did, but they went bankrupt. The factory has been abandoned for a decade." Hanai said.

"What kind of bomb was use?" Kirisawa asked.

"It was a homemade potassium chlorate bomb, the kind anyone could find out how to make on the internet." Asano said.

"I could pull up a list of people who've recently purchased large quantities of potassium chlorate but we still don't have a description for the perp." Kyobashi said.

"Tennoji, did anyone in the area catch sight of the perp as he was making his escape?" Kirisawa asked.

"No one." Tennoji said.

"What the hell is up with this case?!" Kirisawa said angrily.

"Good morning.." Eiki said timidly as we entered the room.

Kirisawa's face turned even angrier when he saw Eiki.

"You're late, Yachigusa!"

"I'm sorry." Eiki said.

I stepped forwards "It's my fault, I made him late." I said.

"Huh? Stone?"

Suddenly everyone's eyes are on me. Tennoji shot me a harsh look.

What was his problem?

"Stone, how are you feeling?" Kirisawa asked.

"Fine." I said.

"Well boss, there was one eyewitness." Tennoji said.

"Who?"

"Our key witness!"

Tennoji walked right over to me and grabbed me by my arm.

"Come on, let's get a description of this guy down on paper." He said. "You're our only clue."

He pulled me over to the desk and sat me down.

"I don't remember much. There were two guys, I'm pretty sure they were guys. They were quite tall, well built and no obvious female parts. But I don't their faces, I think they were wearing masks." I said.

"You didn't see their faces?" Kirisawa asked.

"No." I said.

"That's not very helpful. Goddammit, I thought you were s'possed to be a detective?!" Tennoji said angrily.

"At least you can tell us that it was a guy and there were two people. We have a rough idea of who we're looking for." Kirisawa said.

"It's common after such a trauma to have some memory loss." Hanai said as he flicked through the pages of a psychology book.

"It happens quite often to people who experienced a traumatic event. It's not unusual for them to have holes in their memory." Hanai continued.

"What should we do to help her fill in those holes?" Kirisawa asked.

"One method is to recreate the traumatic event." Hanai said.

"What would that involve in this case?" Kirisawa asked.

"She would have to experience another similar explosion or she would have to see the perp's faces again."

"Ok I've got a plan." Kirisawa clapped his hands together. "Whoever was behind this bombing doesn't seem to have left a single clue behind, our lead is Stone. She saw the perps with her own two eyes. However, she can't remember their faces. But even so, Stone is our key witness on this case. I want her on the front lines of this investigation."

"Really?" I asked and smiled.

My first proper investigation, if I could get these guys I could put them behind the bars.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Tennoji slammed both of his hands down on the desk and stood up.

"This woman is not going to be of any use to us in the field."

"Hey! Wait a minute!" I shouted and stood up and glared at him.

"What makes you so sure?" Kirisawa asked.

"She saw the bombers' face and then immediately forgot the whole thing. How are we supposed to get anywhere relying on someone with a memory that bad?" Tennoji said.

"Like I said, her 'bad memory' is the closest thing we have to a lead." Kirisawa said.

"But.." Tennoji said.

"You've been working this case for days, have you found even one eye witness?"

Tennoji didn't answer, he looked frustrated and sat back down.

Hanai then spoke up, his voice was calm and collected.

"What precisely will Stone's role be in this investigation?" he asked.

"Is he going to help me collect intel?" Eiki asked.

"No, I want to get Stone as close to the perp as I can. I'm hoping her missing memories will come rushing back when she catches a glimpse of the bomber's face." Kirisawa answered.

"As close to the perp as you can get her? You can't be serious." Tennoji said.

What was his problem? I was as competent as anyone here.

"I want to have her canvassing the area surrounding the scene of the crime, speaking to people in the neighborhood trying to find possible witnesses. In other words, I want her to work with you, Tennoji."

"What!?" I gasped and looked at Tennoji, I was going to have to work with this jerk?

"Tennoji has covered most of the ground so far, Stone has got the highest chance of running into the perps if she works with Tennoji."

"There aint no way!" Tennoji shouted and slammed his hands down on the desk and stood up again.

"This chick is going to slow me down. I don't need her messing up my investigation."

"Hey! Who do you think you are?!" I shouted.

"So you refuse to work with her?" Kirisawa asked, sounding calm.

"Of course. How could I work with this useless woman?" Tennoji said.

"Then you're out of 2nd unit."

"Huh?"

"As long as you are in the unit, you are bound by duty to obey your commanding officer's orders. I am your commanding officer. You are obligated to obey my orders." Kirisawa said.

Tennoji remained silent.

"Partner up with Stone and work the case. This is not a suggestion, it's a direct order."

They both glared at each other but eventually, Tennoji shrugged and gave in.

"Pfft.. what a joke." He grumbled.

"You'd better hurry up and get this through your thick head." Kirisawa warned.

"This sucks."

Tennoji sighed deeply and slouched in his chair.

Looks like I didn't have a choice in this either but at least it would make things challenging. I was determined to prove Tennoji wrong, I was going to catch this bomber and then make Tennoji get down on his knees and apologise.

"Tennoji and Stone as partners, this should be interesting." Hanai laughed.

"So there's a girl in the 2nd unit now." Asano said.

"Anyone care to bet on how long she'll last?" Kyobashi asked.

They all talked amongst themselves as they left the office. Tennoji stayed where he was, looking glum in his chair.

"Whaddya lookin' at? If you got somethin' to say, say it."

I was tempted to bite back but I decided to try and make peace with him.

"I'm looking forward to working with you, I'm sure we can learn a lot from each other." I said and did my best to smile.

He glanced up at me and let out a little sigh.

"Why do I gotta be the one to babysit the amateur?" he asked.

"Amateur? I've got plenty of experience thank you very much!"

"I only got one thing to say. I run my cases my way. Either you follow me or you get left behind. Try to stay outta my way." He said and glared at me.

I matched his glare and folded my arms, I wasn't going to let him intimidate me.

"Time to do some leg work, let's go." He said.

"Fine, let's go." I said.

I followed him out of the office, we walked down the hallway and headed to the elevator.

"Where are we going exactly?" I asked.

"Just follow me and you'll see." He said.

"Whatever." I said.

The elevator seemed to take forever, as we waited Eiki came running down the hallway.

"Yutaka!"

"Yo."

"Here's the list you asked for." Eiki said.

"Thanks, this should keep us busy until nightfall." Tennoji said as he took a piece of paper from Eiki.

We were working until nightfall? Great.

Eiki then leaned in and whispered in my ear.

"Freya, good luck. If anything happens, just shoot me an email."

"Thanks." I said and smiled at him and he ran off.

I then noticed Tennoji was looking at me with a displeased look.

"Problem?" I asked.

"You two sure are friendly." He said bluntly.

"Not really." I said with a shrug.

"Whatever." He said.

The elevator doors opened, Tennoji got on and held the door open for me.

"Let's go." He said.

I got into the elevator and Tennoji pressed the button to take us down.

A few hours later, we were both sat in Tennoji's car.

"Ok, 30 interviews down." Tennoji said.

He was holding a piece of paper in his hand and was ticking people off the list.

I sighed, we had been doing this for hours without a break. Did he ever stop?

"You tired?" he asked as he started the car.

"Huh? Not really." I said.

"This party's just getting started. We're not even halfway done. What'd you think cops did? Stay inside and do paperwork all day? If that's what you're expecting you aint never gonna be able to hack it as my partner. You'd better start writing your letter of resignation or transfer request now!"

He sounded like my old Sergeant Major or my father. Who the hell did he think he was, talking to me like that? As if I'd ever let myself loose to a guy like him.

"I don't know about you, but I don't quit. I will never quite being a detective and I will never quit 2nd unit. And no one gets to tell me what to do, least of all you!" I hissed back.

"Pff. Do what you want." He said uninterested.

*Beep*

"That's the police radio." He said.

"I know, shut up." I said and grabbed the radio. "This is patrol car 105."

"Stone? Is Tennoji there?" Kirisawa asked. "You two need to get back here ASAP."

"What happened?" Tennoji asked.

"I've got bad news. There's been another bombing."

We both gasped and exchanged glances.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Are you serious? There was another bombing?" Tennoji asked.

We hurried back to 2nd unit, the other guys were already there waiting for us.

"Here's what we know. The explosion took place on the 1st floor of the Shibuya Sky Building. 17 people were injured. There weren't any fatalities. No arrests have been made and no suspects have been identified. The type of bomb used resembles the one from last week. It's highly likely that the same person is behind both bombings. Be careful out there, everyone." Kirisawa said.

"Yes sir." We all said.

A second bombing? I couldn't believe it, what did these guys have to gain from hurting so many people? I couldn't wait to get them behind bars as soon as possible.

Me and Tennoji headed back to the elevator.

"Stone, how long will it take to reach the sky building from here?" he asked.

"Let's see.. it's in Shibuya, so.."

"About 15 minutes. What kind of building is the sky building?" he asked.

"It's a shopping complex." I said.

"How many floors? How many ways in and out? How many stores?" he asked.

"I don't know." I said.

"This is the basic stuff we have to know, look it up before we leave." He ordered.

"How about asking me nicely rather than yell at me?" I said.

Just then, the elevator pinged and we were on the first floor. Tennoji ignored my comment and we walked to the parking lot.

"We're partners, that means we act together. No going off on your own. Got it?"

"Well I-"

"You are not to leave my side unless there's some kind of emergency but don't get in my way either. We good?"

"I can look after myself in the field, I don't need you to look after me. I was in the army for over a year." I said.

"I don't care, we're partners and it's my job to look after you. So, don't leave my side. Got it?" he said sternly.

There was no point in arguing with him.

"Yes."

"I can't hear you!"

"I said Yes!" I shouted back.

"Ok." He said and briefly smiled at me before we continued towards the parking lot.

What a jerk! He was acting like I was completely useless, I had skills! I'll show him, one way or another.

After work, I was at my self defense class sparing with my partner. I just pictured Tennoji's face on the pads and hit them as hard as I could.

"Whoa Freya, chill out. What's wrong?" my partner asked.

He lowered the pads and shook out his hands.

"Sorry, I just had a bad day at work today." I said.

I then removed my sparing gloves and took the pads from him.

"You're turn, come at me with all you got." I said and he started hitting the bags.

After my class, I went home and made myself dinner and my friends Aya and Mami came over for a glass of wine or two. They were both friends from University, we were sat in my living room.

"He is such a jerk." I said to them.

I had been bitching about Tennoji for over an hour.

"He's probably just being hard on you because you're new to the force. I'm sure once you get to know each other, things will settle down." Aya said.

Aya had long black hair and worked as a social worker.

"I doubt it, he's just such a jerk."

"Don't let him boss you around, show him who's boss!" Mami said.

Mami had short black hair spiked up, she and I were in the army together. She was part of the TA, when she wasn't stationed out of the country she worked in the military bases around the area.

"Oh I plan to." I said. "More wine?" I asked and poured them both another glass.

"Move it, grandma! I'm tryin' to merge, here!" he shouted as he swerved in-between cars. "Hey! You think you can just cut me off?!"

I have been working with Tennoji for just over a week, I was use to his crazy driving and how he done things. He reminded me a lot of my father, which was creepy. The car moved in every direction, I was holding onto the car door handle to try and steady myself.

"Tennoji." I said loudly.

"What?"

"You don't need to drive like an idiot. The sirens on, the other cars will move based on that alone. And you don't have to yell."

"Giving me lip this early in the game?" he shouted.

"Yeah I am!"

"It's 100,000 years too early for you to be telling me what to do."

"Wanna bet?" I hissed.

We both glared at each other when I then heard a voice on the police radio.

"Patrol car 105, top priority. Your assistance is needed."

"This is car 105. We're en route to the Sky Building to investigate the bombing." I said.

"There's been another bombing at another location. The back entrance of the Marubashi building in Shinjuku. Car 105, change route and head to the Marubashi Building crime scene."

"Copy that, dispatch. We're headed there now." I said and ended the transmission.

Before I could say anything, Tennoji cuts the wheel hard, spinning us around.

"This bomber is messing with us. I can't wait to get this joker behind bars." Tennoji said.

"You and me both." I said.

We arrived at the building, the small building was engulfed in flames.

"Why isn't the fire department here yet?" I asked.

"This street is too narrow for their truck to get down from the main road. It's going to take them a while." He said.

"Help!" a woman screamed.

I looked up at the building, there was a woman trapped on the fifth floor. She was hanging out of the window.

"Tennoji, look up there. There's someone trapped." I said and pointed.

"I see her."

"I'll find something that can serve as a cushion. We've got to get her to climb down somehow." I said.

I went to climb out of the car but Tennoji grabbed my arm and stopped me.

"No, I'll go get her."

"What?"

He got out of the car, I followed.

"Wait in the car."

"Why?" I demanded.

"I don't wat to have to worry about you. I'll be able to move freely if I'm alone." He said.

I stared at him in shock.

"The fire truck will be here any second. Explain what's happening to the firefighters when they get here." He said.

"No."

"What?" he gasped.

"I can help you. I'm an officer of the law just like you." I said.

"If you get hurt, I would have to put off helping you until later." He said.

He was trying to scare me.

"Our main priority is saving that woman's life, I might not be able to save you."

"I won't need saving, I can handle myself." I said.

"No, I can risk you getting hurt. Stay here." He said.

Before I could reply, he ran straight into the building.

He was so annoying, I bet if I wasn't a girl he'd have no problem letting me go in there and help.

As he ran in, everyone was watching in amazement. I stared out of my window and I instantly spotted a suspicious looking boy. He had bright ginger hair and were a green and yellow shirt. He was hiding in the shadows of a telephone pole. He was using his phone to take a video of the burning building.

It wasn't unusual for people to take videos of a disaster like this but my gut told me that something was strange. Why was he stood so far away from the building, why was he hiding? He hid his face whenever a person passed by and he was whispering into his phone.

I got out of the car, I needed to approach him. Just as I was about to go up to him, Tennoji exited the building with the woman in his arms.

"Tennoji." I said and ran to his side.

He gently placed the woman down on the ground.

"Is she ok?" I asked.

"She's fine, she just lost consciousness after inhaling some smoke." He said.

"Good."

We could hear the sound of an ambulances nearby, they would be here soon.

"Tennoji, there is a suspicious man over there by the trees holding a phone." I said in a low voice.

He looked up "I see him. It looks like he's taking a notes. He's probably just a reporter or something." He whispered back.

"Stay here with the woman till the ambulance arrives, I'll go after the man." I said and stood up.

I turned around and walked towards the man, I heard Tennoji say something but I was too far away to make out what it was. I couldn't let the man get away. As I walked towards him, he started to walk away and I followed.

He walked from one alleyway to another, I made sure to leave a long enough distance between us.

I wasn't going to get anywhere at this rate, I needed to question him.

"Hey! Excuse me." I said loudly and jogged up to the man.

"Yes?" he said and turned to face me.

"I'm with the police and I need to ask you some questions." I said.

His face instantly changed from calm to pure panic the moment I showed him my badge.

"Wait!" I shouted as he tried to make a run for it.

I ran after him at full speed as he darted down the alley way. He was fast, but I was faster. I leaped and landed on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

"Don't move!" I said.

He struggled but I held onto him tight.

"Stone! Stone!" Tennoji's voice came over my radio.

I held onto the man with one hand and picked up my radio with the other.

"I got the suspect." I said.

"Where the hell are you? I told you not to leave my side!" he shouted.

He shouted so loud that I had to hold the radio away from my ear.

"Relax, I got the guy so why does it matter?" I asked.

Just then, my grip on the guy loosened. He pulled out his arm and moved his elbow upwards elbow catching me in the face knocking me off him. He jumped to his feet and continued running.

"Hey! Stop!" I shouted and went after him.

"Stone? What happened?" Tennoji asked.

"He hit me, I'm chasing him down an alley way. I'm going to block him off at the alley by the sweet shop." I said.

I knew there was a dead end that way. I chased the man so the only way he could go was right. As he turned right, he skidded to a stop.

Tennoji was waiting for him.

"Sorry man, this is the end of the road." He said.

The man froze. I blocked his exit.

"I've got a few questions to-"

The man picked up a potted plant from the front of a nearby shop and threw it at Tennoji. While Tennoji was distracted, the man made a 180 and headed straight for me.

I got ready to knock him down when Tennoji gave me a look with his eyes, signaling me.

(Stone, duck!)

I waited till the man was close enough, I ducked and swung my leg out catching his legs and tripping him up. Tennoji then jumped on top of him and pinned him to the ground.

"Chill out!" Tennoji shouted as the man continued to struggle.

He straddled the man's back, grabbed his hands and cuffed him.

Yeah! We caught him! I jumped and punched the air with my right fist.

"What's going on here?!" a cop shouted.

Two cops came running into the alley way towards us.

"Oh, Detective Tennoji?" one asked.

They must have heard the commotion while they were patrolling nearby.

Tennoji handed the man over to the officers.

"We found him acting sketchy at the scene of a bombing. He ran off when we approached to question him. Arrest him for obstruction of justice and destruction of private property and for striking an officer of the law."

"Yes sir." One of the cops nodded.

"I didn't do anything!" the man shouted and continued to struggle.

"Let's have a nice, long talk down at the station." The second cop said.

They loaded him into their car and drove off.

Something then hit me across the back of the head.

"Ow!" I turned and saw Tennoji stood behind me, glaring at me. "What was that for?"

"Don't ever run off like that again!" he shouted.

I just shrugged "We got the guy didn't we? What's the problem?"

"The problem is, you could have been in trouble and I wasn't here to save you."

"I don't need you save me, I had him." I said.

"Was that before or after he hit you in the face?"

I reached up and felt my tender cheek, he didn't hit me that hard.

"He wouldn't have hit me if I didn't have to answer you over the radio. I would have had him otherwise." I hissed back.

We both glared at each.

What was his problem?

He then sighed and looked away, we both stood in silence. I wasn't sure what to do, did I just walk off and head back to the car?

He then looked up and matched my gaze.

"That reminds me, you're good at reading eyes."

"Reading eye?" I asked.

"You understood when I told you to duck even though I just signaled to you." He said.

"Of course I understood, I'm a detective." I said.

"Huh?"

"The ability to read your partner's non-verbal communication is a basic skill. It's something I learnt in the army." I said.

"Big talk. I hope you can back that up." He said.

I smiled "Just watch this space, you have no idea what I'm capable of."

"Really? Anyway, we gotta get back to the scene of the crime." He said and briskly walked off.

I quickly followed behind him.

After surveying the crime scene, we went back to Tennoji's car.

"Huh? What is wrong with this thing?" I said.

"Come on, girl.. Ya killing me.." Tennoji said.

"Shut up, I'm not doing it on purpose!" I snapped back.

I was trying to put on my seat belt but it was knotted and I couldn't get it undone.

"Hurry and buckle up. I wanna go." He hissed.

"Shut up, I'm trying." I hissed back.

What was wrong with this thing?

"Just go, I'll be fine." I said.

"Cops driving without seatbelts? Ha! Come here." He said.

He leaned over and within seconds, he untied the knot with ease and buckled me in. As he sat up straight in his seat, I noticed that his cheeks were flushing red.

Why were his cheeks red? Was he hot or something?

"Thanks." I said and straightened myself up.

He started the engine without saying another word. As the car started, I looked at him. His cheeks were still red.

He didn't seriously get embarrassed just by doing up my seatbelt did he? I didn't think that such a loud mouth guy would get embarrassed about something like that. What a joke!

"Whaddya looking at?" he demanded.

"Hm?"

"Didn't your mom teach you it's rude to stare?"

I couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings? Your pretty sensitive aren't you Tennoji?"

"Shut up. You got the free time to think about stuff like that? Concentrate on the case."

"Not my fault your sensitive-Whoa!"

He stepped on the gas to distract me, throwing me forwards towards the dashboard. My seatbelt was the only thing that stopped me from hitting the windscreen.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Stone, you caught the bad guy. Nice job!" Kirisawa said with a smile.

It was the day after we arrested the suspicious man. When I walked into the office, Kirisawa greeted me with a pat on the back.

"I heard the news yesterday, you and Tennoji caught him together, right?"

"Yeah I suppose, but he's not the guy behind the bombings." I said.

"Just a witness, you know that boss." Tennoji said.

Tennoji was sat back in his chair, sipping coffee. He was always more relaxed this time of the morning then at any other point during the day.

"I heard about what an awesome team you two made." Eiki said.

"From who?" Tennoji asked.

"The Uniforms at the scene. They said you two worked like a well-oiled machine to take down your enemy." Eiki said.

"Enemy?! He's just a witness." Tennoji said.

I ignored them and made my way to the coffee machine and made myself a cup of coffee.

"Are you two going to question him together?" Hanai asked.

"I think so." I said.

"But he's been pretty tight lipped. I heard they haven't even been able to find out his name. Can I help you out with questioning him? I'm pretty confident in my profiling skills." Hanai said.

"Of course you are, you're a professional criminal profiler. There's not a criminal out there that you can't see right through." Eiki bragged.

Hanai was that good? Well maybe it could be useful to have him help, I could probably learn a lot from him. I didn't have much experience with questioning witnesses.

"That'll be great, will you help us?" I said to Hanai. "I've never questioned a witness like this before."

"No way!" Tennoji said instantly, stopping Hanai from answering.

"Why?" I asked.

"You and me are questioning this guy together, Stone." Tennoji said.

"Are you guys sure you'll be ok just the two of you?" Hanai asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tennoji asked and shot him a glare.

"This will be Stone's first time right? It's important to set a good example."

"You tryin' to say I won't set a good example?!"

"I wouldn't say that, but.. you know how you can be." Hanai said.

"You lookin' for a fight?!"

They both started glaring at each other.

Why did they always have to fight?

Kirisawa clapped his hands to break up the tension.

"Alright, alright. That's enough of that. We don't know if this witness is going to be our perp or not, and there's only so long we can hold him without any evidence. Stone, Tennoji, give it a go with just the two of you." Kirisawa said.

"Ok." I said.

"Stone, we start in 10 minutes. Get all the necessary files ready." Tennoji ordered.

He then stood up and left the room with an indignant look on his face.

Oh my god! What was his problem?

"It looks like Yutaka is angry about something. Maybe I said something I shouldn't have." Eiki said.

"It's not your fault Eiki." Kyobashi said. "Hanai is all brains and Tennoji is all brawn. It inevitable that they would butt heads occasionally."

"Eternal rivals." Asano said.

It's a wonder they complete cases when they argue so much. I finished my coffee and then started getting all my files ready.

"I think I have all the files we're going to need." I said to myself as I walked down the hallway.

My arms were filled with case files, they were really heavy. I jogged to catch Tennoji up, this reminded me of my basic training in the army. Having to carry heavy loads whilst running up hill, god it was hell on earth.

"Tenno-whah!"

I tripped over my own two feet and the files I had been holding splattered across the floor.

"Crap!" I hissed and started to pick them up.

Tennoji walked back and started to help me.

"Do we really need all of these?" he asked.

"Um well.."

"He's just a witness, we just need one file: his."

"That's true but-"

"What's this book? 'Examining Police Witnesses: The manual'. Whaddya gonna do, read this while you question him?"

"I don't know anything about questioning witnesses or interrogations." I said.

"Look, our job is about dealing with people right?"

"Right."

"No two people in this world are the same. You really think you can find every character trait of this dude in that manual?" he asked.

"No."

"All we can do is deal with one person at a time and build up knowledge through experience. Your problem is an overwhelming lack of experience." He said.

He was right, but I wasn't going to admit that to him.

"What are you making that sad face for? You don't have to ask Hanai-"

He instantly stopped talking and made a face that said "oh crap."

"Ask Hanai what?"

He remained silent and avoided my gaze.

"So you're mad that I asked Hanai for help?" I asked.

"I'm not mad, I'm just.."

"You have the right to be mad, I shouldn't have asked him to help us with our investigation. At least not without asking you first."

"That's not it all! We arrested that guy together, we should see this through to the end together." He dropped his gaze and looked down at the ground.

We stood in silence for a moment, he then neatly picked up the files and started walking again.

"Let me help you." I said and tried to take some of the files from him but he moved away so I couldn't grab them.

"It's fine, I've got them." He said.

"But I can help." I said and tried to grab them again but he simply held them higher so I could reach them.

"No." he said firmly.

"But-"

"Shut up. If I say no, I mean 'no.'" he shouted. "As if I'm going to make a tiny woman carry this big stack of papers."

"Hey, I can handle it. I've been in-"

"The army I know. Stop going on!"

He walked off briskly leaving me behind.

Maybe I had the wrong idea about him? Maybe he was a nice guy after all?

"Hey! Hurry it up!" he shouted. "The elevators here."

"Coming." I said.

He turned and held the elevator door open with his chin till I ran in.

At the police station;

"Who do you think you are?!" Tennoji shouted and slammed his hands down on the desk.

I was stood in the corner of the room, shaking my head. The poor suspect was sat at the desk looking terrified, did Tennoji really think he could scary the man that much?

Tennoji scowled at the man, the man simply looked away coolly avoiding Tennoji's gaze.

"I'll ask you one more time. What were you doing making a video at the scene of that bombing?"

"Is it a crime to record something?" the man asked.

"If you're not guilty, why'd you run?"

"Because that girl started chasing me." The man said and pointed to me.

"She didn't start chasing you till you ran!"

"You're scary."

The man glanced up at Tennoji.

"You don't look like a detective. I thought you were a thug."

"You sonova-"

Tennoji looked like he was ready to jump across the table and attack the man. Desperate to hold him back, I put him hand on Tennoji's shoulder.

"Tennoji, now's not the time to get violent." I said.

"Lemme go! I'm sick of lookin' at this asshole's face! He's a sicko! Seeing other people hurt makes him happy!"

"But like he said, that's not a crime." I said.

"Stone, you on his side?!"

"No." I said and then I turned to face the suspect.

"So tell me, why were you at that burning building?" I asked.

The man didn't answer.

"Taking that video may not be a crime, but you understand that destroying people's property is right? And hitting me in the face as well?"

His expression didn't change.

"Refusing to talk about what happened makes you look like you're hiding something. You can see how we would get that impression right?"

"I'm not going to tell you anything." He said and looked down at the table.

Tennoji scowled at me with a scary face.

"Quit butting in Stone."

"But-"

"This guy isn't going to respond to your limp-wristed questions. He's the type who only understands brute force." He said.

"Brute force? I doubt it." I said.

I may not have much experience, that didn't seem to be working so far and we couldn't beat him till he spoke.

"Let's take a break. We'll try this again in 30 minutes." He then looked at the man. "Hey you."

"What?" the man asked.

"Say goodbye to Mister Nice Guy. When I come back, I'm gonna make you cry for your momma."

Tennoji postured menacingly for a moment before leaving the interrogation room.

The man sighed loudly "As if he had ever been nice!"

"Believe it or not, he's a nice guy. He just really cares about solving this case." I said and sat down at the desk.

"Stupid cop.. I can't believe that guy. Yesterday, when he was chasing me he pulled my t-shirt so hard. I thought it was going to rip."

The man then touched his shirt. There was a picture of a band on the front of it.

"You like Goldplay?" I asked.

"You know Goldplay?"

"Yeah, that's a limited edition t-shirt. They only sold it when they came to Japan on their tour last year." I said.

"Yeah, did you go to the concert too, detective?" he asked.

"I bought a ticket but something came up at work, and I ended up not being able to go." I said.

"Seriously? That blows. I skipped class and went to two of their shows when they were here."

So he's a college kid? We started to talk, we spoke mainly about Goldplay. I slipped in questions about his life when I could. I ended up finding out that he's a junior at a private university in Tokyo.

"Really though, I don't have anything to do with any bombing." He said.

"Then why have you been refusing to speak to us?" I asked.

"I graduate soon. I need to find a job. If a company I apply to finds out about all this."

"They wouldn't find out. You're not going to include 'questioned by the police' on your resume, are you? Besides, if you're that busy with your job search, don't you want to hurry up and go home?" I asked.

"They won't find out that I talked to you?" he asked.

"No, we have to protect your right to privacy. We can't tell anyone we talked to you."

"Then I'll talk." He said.

I smiled and he started telling me everything.

20 minutes later,

"Ok, the 30 minutes are up!" Tennoji announced as he came back in. "Time for some brute force!"

He then cracked his knuckles as he walked over to the desk.

Pfft, men!

I had just finished writing my record of the examination. I held it up to him as he came over to me.

He took the paper from me and quickly read it before looking down at me.

"He explained everything." I said.

"You're joking."

"Nope. He was an onlooker, but he's also friends with the bomber." I said.

"Friends? He's friends with the perp?!"

"I don't know if I would call him a friend, but we sit next to each other in class sometimes." The man said.

"He told him 'if you want to take a cool video, go by this building in Shinjuku at 02:00pm.' He only half believed him, but he went anyway." I said.

"And then there really was an explosion." The man said.

"What're finishing her sentences for?!" Tennoji asked angrily.

"You can't possibly think I really did it!" the man said. "The building was already burning by the time I arrived."

"Then who were you speaking to? Were you reporting to the bomber?" Tennoji asked.

"No, I was just narrating."

"Narrating?"

"I was planning on uploading what I videoed to the internet."

"I think you just bored me speechless." Tennoji said.

"And he said he was hiding his face because he wanted to avoid trouble." I said.

"But then you guys came after me and I panicked. I was worried that you would think I was an accomplice so I ran."

"Jesus!" Tennoji grabbed him by the collar and got up in his face. "This isn't a freaking game! Somebody almost died in that explosion!"

"I'm sorry." The man said.

"You said the perp goes to your college. Tell me his name!"

"I got it, I'll tell you. Just let me go." The man begged. "His name is Mikami, he's a junior studying engineering at W University."

20 minutes later, we were sat in Tennoji's car.

"Stone, how long will it take us to get to that campus from here?" he asked.

"About 30 minutes." I said.

"Ok, let's get a move on." He said.

He quickly put his keys in the ignition but then he stopped moving.

"What did you do back there?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"That guy. No matter what I said, he wouldn't crack. How did you get him to talk so easily?" he asked.

"I loosened him up by talking about a band we both liked. We're about the same sage so we talked about how hard it is to find a job etc etc." I said.

He just stared at me and then the corners of his lip curved up ever so slightly.

"I've been thinking my way was the best way this whole time, but it looks like your way can work too. I won't forget that."

I smiled and playfully punched him on the arm "Thanks."

"Hurry up and buckle up. That seat belts not all knotted up again, is it?"

"No, it's fine." I said and pushed the seat belt into it's clasp.

"Looks like you can teach a turtle new tricks. Too bad about your speed though."

"A turtle? Can't you at least compare me to a lion or a tiger?"

He laughed but then he turned and gave me a serious look.

"We can't let this bomber get away with what he's doing for another second. It's up to use to stop him."

"I know, don't worry. We'll kick his ass in no time!"

I made a fist and held it up to him, he looked puzzled for a moment but then smiled and we bumped fists together.

"Let's go."

He steppe don the accelerator and we shot off.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Tennoji and I arrive at the university that the man we questioned told us about. We know that Mikami should be in class right now, and we're were here to find him. It was a weekday afternoon so the campus was bustling with students.

I saw a group of three students stood around each other talking.

"Did you register for next semester yet?" A student said to one of their friends.

"Crap! I still have to turn in that report!" a second one said.

"You can write your thesis on that!" a third said.

I couldn't help but smile, it felt like I was back at University again. I was only a student three years ago, before I went into the army. It felt like a life time ago.

"Yo." Tennoji said loudly.

"Ow!"

"Quite makin' that dumb face." He said.

I spun around when Tennoji hit me on the back to the head and I glared at him. He looked down at me with an amused looked on his face.

"I parked the car around the back." He said.

"Fine whatever." I said.

He didn't have to hit me.

"What were you thinking about just now?" he asked. "You looked like you were hard-core day dreaming."

"I was just thinking of my time when I was in university, before I went into the army. This campus reminds me of my old campus." I said.

"Pfft. I didn't go to college, so I guess I don't get it. On the real though, is college actually like, you know, just a bunch of hooking up and blowing off classes?"

"Who told you that?" I asked.

"Did you have a boyfriend in college?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Whaaat! So some dude legit liked you and dated you?! I wonder what he looked like? Who asked who out? Where did you go on dates? Why'd you break up?"

I was taken back by his sudden line of questions and I didn't know how to answer.

"Why do you want to know? Why are you suddenly so interested in my love life?"

"I'm just curious." He said.

"Really? Well how about you? Why don't you tell me about your love life." I said.

"Me?"

"Yeah. I bet girls really like you." I said sarcastically.

"Yeah obviously. I mean, if they didn't like me, who would they like?" he said with a smug smile on his face.

How arrogant could you get?!

"But I gotta say, I straight up don't understand chicks. Chicks be showing up at my place like, 'Do you really love me?' and then they just disappear." He said.

"Disappear? Are you some kind of serial killer? But seriously though, you're probably just giving them mixed signals." I said.

"Hmm." He said thoughtfully.

He was disagreeing, he seemed to be genuinely listening to my advice. He was quite hot, I found it hard to believe that girls didn't like him but he probably scared them off with his personality. College girls had been checking him out ever since we walked onto the campus.

"Anyway. How'd we get onto this subject?" he asked. "You never talk about stuff like this."

"You started it."

He then looked away and I followed his gaze to a nearby building.

"Isn't that the building over there?" he asked. "Building #9, Engineering. Yep that's it. Let's hit it up."

I nodded and we walked to the building together.

Tennoji lead the way, he sat right in the front of the lecture hall.

"Tennoji." I hissed.

"Shh! Stone, don't be so loud."

"But we can't sit right at the front."

Talking about not being subtle.

"It's fine, the lecture hall is huge." He said. "Besides, I can't see shit from outside."

We both sat down in the corner, the lecture hall was full of people. No one seemed to notice us.

"You stick out like a sore thumb." I said.

"Why? Because I'm tall?"

"Yeah and you dress weird." I said.

"How do I dress weird?" he asked.

"Hey you two!" the lecture shouted and pointed at us.

"Yes?" I asked.

We must've been talking too loud, the professor stopped his lecture and everyone turned to look at us.

"You can remain seated. Please explain Fermat's Last Theorem to the class. You, redhead."

"Me?" Tennoji asked surprised. "Stone, what's a Fermat? Is that a person's name?"

"What you asking me for?" I said.

"What's wrong? I discussed it last it in last week's lecture." The professor said.

"Yeah.. Fermat said.. uh.. I think Fermat worked really hard." Tennoji.

I covered my mouth with my hand to muffle a snigger, of all the things to say he said that.

"I'm sure he did, but what I'm asking is, how did he work hard, and to what end?" the professor asked not looking amused.

"Um well.."

This wasn't good, if things continued like this our cover would be exposed. We had to get out of here.

"Excuse me, I just realized that I'm in the wrong class." I said loudly.

"Me to!" Tennoji said.

"You kids are useless. You're supposed to be juniors; you should be able to find your own class by now. And you up there! You've been sleeping this whole time. You! Wake up the kid next to you!"

"Hey, Mikami. The teacher says to wake up." A student said.

Me and Tennoji both gasped and exchanged looks before we looked up at the lecture hall.

"Mikami!" a student said shaking him.

"Hm? What's going on?" a guy said as he woke up.

He looked really creepy, there was something about his eyes that I didn't like. He had bright blonde hair, he wore a black top with a purple shirt on top.

We both took a glance at Mikami as we left the classroom. Could he really be a bomber? A college kid?

When we got outside, Tennoji turned and faced me.

"Stone, did his face trigger any memories?" he asked.

"He looked like a normal college kid. I don't think he was the one, I just can't imagine that a kid like him would do something like that." I said.

"I wouldn't say that. I've worked a lot of cases. You'd be surprised what totally 'normal' looking kids, housewives, and office workers are capable of. You can't be swayed by what he looked like." He said.

I nodded but my gut told me that he didn't do it.

We waited by the entrance to the building, when the class ended, we spotted Mikami in the crowd of students.

"Tennoji." I said and pointed.

"I see him."

"What should we do? Talk to him?"

"Not yet, we don't have any proof. Let's follow him and see what we can find out first." He said.

Mikami walked by himself, he didn't talk to any of the other kids. In order to avoid being noticed, we put some distance between ourselves and him.

"You've got a heathy appetite, Stone." Tennoji said.

"I do?" I asked.

"I've never seen a girl eat a big plate of curry like that before." He said.

We were sat in the canteen eating lunch with the rest of the students.

"My body needs energy to run." I said.

"Well, you're not fat so go for it, I guess." He said.

"You eat a lot too. Pork cutlet on rice and pork cutlet curry. You must really like pork cutlets." I said.

"The tigers ate pork cutlet the night before the won the championship. I've been eating pork cutlets when I want to win ever since then."

"Fair enough." I said.

"I wonder if Mikami has any friends?" he said. "He's been alone this whole time."

I pretended to be absorbed in my food and steal a glance at Mikami. He was sat at a table, far away from anyone else and he was eating alone in silence. I then turned to the table next us and started speaking to one of the girls.

"Hey."

"Hey." She said.

"Do you know the boy sitting over there?" I asked.

"Him? Nope. Not at all." She said.

"He's so bland looking, I could have a class with him and not even notice." A second one said.

"Oh, ok." I said.

"But who cares about him? Your boyfriend is so cute!" the first one beamed.

"Boyfriend?" I questioned.

"You mean me?" Tennoji asked.

"Yep you. So hot. You're not a student here, are you? What do you do?" the second one asked.

Oh they mean Tennoji? I couldn't help but laugh, me and Tennoji together? Yeah right!

"I. uh.. I'm an employee organizer." Tennoji said.

"What in the world is that? Haha!" the first girl laughed.

"And what's that accent? Are you from Osaka?" the second asked.

"Osaka people are supposed to be funny right? Say something funny. Tell us a joke." The first on said.

"Aint nobody got time for that." He replied.

"Haha! That's really funny." The girl one laughed.

"Huh? That was an honest observation, not a joke." He said.

Ha! They were flirting with him and he didn't even realise it. Probably why he didn't get on well with girls. But he was smiling so he was enjoying himself. I didn't know he was even capable of being nice to girls, considering he's always mean to me.

"Stone, Mikami is leaving." He said.

I looked behind me, Mikami had finished eating and he was walking out of the cafeteria.

"Let's keep tailing him." Tennoji said.

We followed him out of the cafeteria. We tailed him right to a run-down industrial area. You could hear a pin drop, we were clearly the only people around here.

But why would he come here? Was his hideout here?

"This place reminds me of the location of the first bombing." I said.

"He could have a hideout around here." Tennoji said.

Mikami didn't seem to know these streets very well, he kept stopping to check buildings' addresses.

"He looks lost. Maybe it's a new hideout and he forgot how to get there?" I whispered.

"Maybe." Tennoji said. "Oh! He's coming this way!"

Mikami had turned around and he was walking towards us. He was going to bump into us and possibly recognize us from the university.

"We need to hide." I said.

"Crap.. there's nowhere to hide.. Stone, come here for a second."

Tennoji grabbed my hand and pulled me into the shadows, he pushed me up against a wall and embraced me hiding us from direct view.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Shh. Be quite. Pretend to be my girlfriend until he passes us by." Tennoji whispered in my ear.

I could hear Mikami getting closer. Tennoji pulled my head tight to his chest.

"Don't make a sound." Tennoji whispered.

Mikami glanced at us for a moment, but continued on his way, unconcerned about us.

I sighed with relief.

"Is he gone?"

"He's gone." I said.

"Where in the hell is he headed?"

I stood up straight and peered over Tennoji's shoulder, following Mikiami with my eyes.

"He went into the building across the street."

"Do you know what floor?"

"He took the external stairs to the third floor." I said.

"Ok." He said and loosened his arms.

We both glanced at each other, we were so close our noses were nearly touching. This felt so awkward.

"I..." Tennoji said, his face was bright red.

He rushed to step away from and looked down at the ground.

"Sorry." He said.

"It's ok, don't worry. He didn't see us so it's fine." I said and smiled at him.

"The third floor of the building across the street huh..." he walked off ahead of me, clearly embarrassed.

Why was he embarrassed? It's not like we kissed or anything. It was more awkward then anything or weird. I quickly followed him.

We were stood together in front of the door to a room. I could hear voices coming from inside.

"About the next bombing.." Mikami said.

"Get everyone together tonight at 09:00." A new voice said.

"We can all meet here, right?" Mikami asked.

Tennoji and I exchanged a look. We didn't say a word but we began to communicate with gestures and facial expressions.

(Let's go back to the 2nd unit) Tennoji said.

(Why?)

(We still don't have the evidence we need, and it sounds like the rest of their buddies will be coming later.)

He was right. I gestured "ok" and we tiptoed out of the building and hurried back to the 2nd unit.

"As you all know, Tennoji and Stone have located the bombers hideout. Everybody, get ready to move out." Kirisawa ordered.

"Yes sir!"

Everyone was on high alert. I just hoped that the guy who did the first bomb was there, I couldn't wait to get him behind bars. I wanted to arrest him myself.

Eiki then smiled at me "Freya, Yutaka, you guys are awesome. How were you able to tail Mikami all the way back to his hideout? If you have any tips on how to avoid being noticed, let me know."

I briefly glanced at Tennoji, his looked down at me and our eyes meet for a moment.

"Just normal stuff. Hid in the shadows when he walked passed. Nothing special." I said with a shrug.

Tennoji looked relieved at my response.

"Stone, you should write down your own debrief for today." Tennoji said.

"Ok." I said.

But he was fidgeting like he wanted to say something else, but he ended up going back to his seat in silence.

Oh well.

"Man, it's so hot outside today. Right? Don't you think it's hot?" he asked.

"Not really." Asano said.

Tennoji then started fanning himself with his notebook.

I sat down at my desk and started writing down my debrief report.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Why are the 2nd unit misfits always so loud?" someone asked as they came into our office.

I turned and saw Tokuda, he was one of the guys from the 1st unit. He wore a black/grey suit and had his dark hair gelled back.

"You'd never know this was an office full of adults. It sounds like a kindergarten." Urata said. He had short blonde hair wore a matching suit to his suit.

"You sure it's not a preschool?" Sonoda asked. He was the one with glasses.

Everyone was prepping to head to the bombers' hideout when the guys from the 1st unit come into our office.

Did they just come here to make fun of us? What was there problem? Though I did understand why they didn't like 2nd unit, the guys were eccentric.

"We're about to raid the bombers' hideout. If you guys are looking for something to do, you could come along as back up." Kirisawa said.

"Pfft, looking for something to do? Yeah right!" Tokuda sneered. "Besides, we're already zeroing-in on the perp."

"What are you doing?" Tennoji asked.

"We got wind of the news that a certain terrorist organization has recently become active in Japan. We're going after them as soon as we get the official go-ahead." Urata said.

"Can you guys help us out with some of the grunt work when the order comes down?" Tokuda laughed.

"What a joke! The perp is a college kid. No doubt about it, we heard him planning the next bombing." Tennoji sneered at them.

He was glaring at them harshly.

"A college kid?" Tokuda asked. "There's no way the bomber could be a college kid. You misfits must've messed up."

"The media has had its eye on the MPD recently. The last thing we need is wrongful arrest scandal, be careful." Urata said.

The three 1st unit detectives laughed derisively before they went back to their office.

"Man. Those dudes sure know how to piss me off!" Tennoji shouted. "Who do they think they are? Criticizing our investigation."

"Well, to be honest, I was doubtful it was a college student too. At least at first." Hanai said.

"I'm still doubtful." Asano said.

"I see how it is." Tennoji said angrily.

"1st unit has their own way of doing things. Don't worry about them. I trust you Tennoji." Kirisawa said.

"Boss.." Tennoji said with a smile.

"If we let these bombings continue, someone's going to be killed. We've got to do what we can to put a stop to this. I want you guys on you're a-game." Kirisawa said.

"Yes sir!"

We all headed to the bombers' hideout. Tennoji drove the two of us there. He kept grumbling to himself as he drove.

"Man, I can't stand those 1st unit jerks. They're just sooooo sure that they're the best at everything."

He couldn't just let things go could he?

"That reminds me. I heard you used to be in the 1st unit, I guess it wasn't for you." I said.

"Yeah, they're just a bunch of suits. All they care about is sucking up to the higher-ups and getting promoted." He said.

"Yeah, I can see that." I said.

"All they care about is making arrests in the way that'll get them the most glory. They couldn't give a shit about the victim's feelings. Simply closing a case doesn't necessarily end a victim's suffering."

What was with the sad look on his face? Did something happen to him in the past? He certainly was passionate.

"Tennoji, did something happen to you?" I asked.

"What?"

"You seem like you really understand how victims of crime feels, so.."

His face turned stern "Don't worry about it, nothing happened. All I can say is, if you ever get stuck on a case, it's always a good idea to go back to the scene of the crime. Thinks about what happened to the victim there, imagine what the perp thought, what he saw. You have to be at the scene of the crime to do that, because that's where everything really went down."

I nodded.

"Those 1st unit jerks never do that! They've got their heads so far up their asses; 'the bomber could never be a college student'. Yeah right, what's their proof?"

I rolled my eyes, he was getting upset again. He was beating his hands on the steering wheel as he drove. I took come candy out of my bag and turned to him.

"Tennoji."

"Those 1st unit jokers are just a bunch of f-"

"Tennoji!" I said louder.

"Hm?"

"Say 'Aah'." I said.

"Aah."

I push the piece of candy into his mouth.

"What's this?" he asked.

"You can get easily irritated when your blood sugar is low. They say it's a good idea to eat candy when you're feeling annoyed. So suck on your candy and calm down." I said.

"Stone… isn't that calcium?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"Can't you get irritated if you don't get enough calcium?"

"No it's sugar." I said.

"I'm pretty sure it's calcium." He said.

"No, it's sugar."

"Calcium!"

"Sugar!"

"Calcium!"

"Sugar!"

Exasperated, Tennoji looked at me with a cheeky smile on his face. It's like he just wants to get the last word in.

"Dummy.." he laughed. "And I don't mean that as a compliment."

"In what universe is 'dummy' a compliment?" I asked.

"You didn't know? I only call people I like 'dummy'. I was pretty pissed about the 1st unit stuff, but talking with you really calmed me down. Thanks."

"You're welcome." I said.

I think this was the first he had ever thanked me for anything, since we started working together.

We approached the bombers hideout, we got out of the car quietly to avoid being heard.

"Alright guys. Everyone ready?" Kirisawa asked. "This building has two normal entrances and one emergency exit. That makes three ways in and out in total. Let's split up into three teams. Hanai and Yachigusa, take the east entrance, Asano and Kyobashi, take the west. Tennoji and Stone, take the emergency exit."

"What's the plan of attack?" Hanai asked.

"I'll direct you all on the radio. Everybody's ear buds functioning?" Kirisawa asked.

"Mine's fine." Kyobashi said.

"Me to." Eiki said.

"I'll give the go ahead five minutes from now. Be ready."

"Yes sir."

We split up into our teams and made our way to our designated entrances. Tennoji and I headed to the emergency exit around the back of the building.

"Stone, have you gun ready." Tennoji said.

"Ok." I said.

"I'll go in first, you support me from the rear."

"Understood." I said.

I pulled out my gun, I checked the safety and got ready. My heart pounded, I was covered in sweat. Why was I so nervous? I had handled guns before in the army, I had even done raids in the army. My hands started to shake.

Oh come on Freya, get a grip. I told myself and took a deep breath to try and calm myself down.

I couldn't get the moment of the bomb out of my head. In a flash, I remember my hands and feet bound with rope. I could hear the bleeping of the bomb and I could feel the heat of the explosion.

Tennoji must have realized how panicked I was, he turned around and faced me.

"Stone."

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Are you shaking?" he asked.

"No!" I said almost instantly. "You must be seeing things."

He gave me a stern look before he reached out and took hold of my hands. Both of my hands were enveloped by Tennoji's big hands.

"Stone, I feel you. I'm scared too." He said.

"What?"

"I've done this kind of thing enough times to know how it goes. But even still, I'm scared. Explosions... guns... anyone would be scared. Even a detective or a soldier." He said tenderly.

"So what should I do?" I asked.

"Trust yourself. Trust your friends. Stone, trust me. It's ok, I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

He looked straight at me, as I looked into his strong, determined eyes, a mysterious calm came over me. My hands gradually stopped shaking and my heart started to slow.

"You feeling better?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you." I said.

"You calmed me down earlier, think of this as payback. Stone, you can trust me."

He squeezed my hands tight.

I smiled at him, he was being so nice. We were partners, he wasn't going to let anything happen to me and I wasn't going to let anything happen to him.

At that moment, I could hear Kirisawa's voice in my ear.

"We've confirmed the suspects' presence on the third floor. We're going in. Everybody-"

"They're here! 2nd units here!" a voice said.

What?

"The hell?" Tennoji demanded.

After that strange voice, I could hear lots of voices all speaking on top of each other.

"We came to help."

"You said the hideout was around here, right?"

"What's are you doing?!" Kirisawa shouted angrily.

"We eliminated the terrorist organization as a suspect, so we came to see what was going on with you guys."

"Is that the 1st unit?" I asked Tennoji.

"Goddammit. Could their timing be any worse?" Tennoji said.

"Tennoji, the suspects." I said and pointed.

The sounds of our commotion seemed to have reached the third floor. I could see people looking out of the window at us.

"Crap! We've been spotted. I'm goin' in!" Tennoji said.

I followed him into the building, we ran up the stairs together and Tennoji kicked down the door to a room.

"Police! Don't move!" he shouted.

But.. the room was empty. Papers were strewn all over the desk and the floor, it looks like they left in a hurry.

"Dammit!" Tennoji shouted.

He opened a window and yelled down to Kirisawa.

"Boss! They made a run for it! They must be down there somewhere."

"No, the roof!" Kirisawa shouted and then pointed to the top of the building.

We leaned out of the window and looked up. We could see men jumping from the roof of one building to the next.

"Hold it right there!" Hanai shouted.

"It's no good. We won't make it in time." Eiki said.

Eiki and Hanai were still on ground leave, we could see them running. But the suspects were splitting up, it'll be impossible to catch them all.

"We almost had them! If only the 1st unit asshats hadn't shown up!" Tennoji said angrily.

I sighed and put my gun away, we were so close! I moved around the room and went over to the desk.

"Hm? Tennoji, I think the suspects left this behind." I said as I picked up a piece of paper.

"What is it?" he asked and walked up next to me.

It was a map and a paper, with what appeared to be a code. On the paper was written, "No name, no fortune; give me wings."

"Give me wings?" Tennoji questioned.

"No name, no fortune.. where are those words from?" I said.

"Could they have anything to do with the code and this map?" He asked.

It was a map of Tokyo, they used red lines to mark off each of Tokyo's wards. Each block was labeled with a character from the Japanese syllabary.

"This is really detailed work." He said.

"This must mean something." I said.

"Well, now we know the bombings aren't random. They have a plan. This code and this map are hiding a secret." He said.

But what could that secrete be? If we could figure that out, we could stop the bombings. We looked back to the red lines on the map. I couldn't help but be reminded of blood when I looked at the way those red marks cut Tokyo into pieces.

We went back to 2nd unit and discussed the map and code we brought back.

"No name, no fortune; give me wings.." Kirisawa said. "And a map of Tokyo split into 52 pieces. What do these two things have to do with each other?"

"Let's try marking off the locations of the bombings up until this point." Hanai said. "The first bombing took place at a factory in Kita ward."

"That block is marked with 'Tsu'." I said.

"The second was at the Sky building in Shibuya ward. The third was at the Maruhashi building in Shinjuku." He said.

"Those blocks are marked 'Ba' and 'Sa.'" I said.

"'Tsu', 'Ba', 'Sa'. What could that mean?" he asked.

"This is awfully strange." Kyobashi said.

Everyone fell silent in thought. I was sat at my desk, staring at my computer. I knew that I had heard those words somewhere, but I couldn't remember where. It was so annoying.

The phone then started ringing, breaking the silence. Everyone looked wary.

"Special investigations, 2nd unit." Kirisawa said as he answered the phone. "Copy that. We're on our way."

He hung up the phone with a pained expression on his face.

"Boss, was there-" Hanai started to say.

"There was." Kirisawa said. "There's been a forth bombing."

"Goddammit! If only we had caught them when we had the chance." Tennoji shouted.

"Where was the bombing?" Hanai asked.

"In Nakano, at the abandoned school." Kirisawa said.

"So on this map, that's.." Asano said.

"The 'wo' block." Kyobashi finished his sentence.

"let's hurry over there." Kirisawa said. "Time is of the essence."

We all headed to Nakano.

The next morning, I was sat in my flat drinking a cup of tea and eating breakfast. I had just gone on my morning run which was a total of 10 miles. I had already showered and was dressed ready to get into work. Today I wore a pair of black trousers, flat shoes and a white halter neck top and a black blazer. I had my long blonde hair tied up into a bun.

I finished my cup of tea and left for work. I first the go the train and as I walked out of the station and down the street, I saw a young girl in a wheelchair on the road. As I got closer, I saw that one of the wheels of her chair was stuck in the gutter.

"Hi, are you ok?" I asked and walked up to her.

"No, I'm stuck and I've been trying to pull myself out but I can't seem to get free." She said.

Poor girl.

"Ok, hold on a sec." I said.

I put down my bag, rolled up my sleeves.

The girl sat up straight in polite protest.

"You don't have to worry about me. Just go." She said.

"It's fine, don't worry. It's my responsibility to help those in need." I said.

"A cop?" she asked.

I nodded before I grabbed the wheel and lifted the chair up, till I heard a click. I then pushed the cheer forwards so the wheel was away from the gutter.

"There. Can you move now?" I asked.

"I think so. Thank you!" she beamed and pushed herself forwards. "I'm so glad, I didn't think anyone would come by to help me."

She had such a sweet smile on her face, I couldn't believe that no one else had stopped to help her.

Hm! People nowadays!

"You're welcome." I said and smiled back.

"Yuko!" someone shouted.

"Yutaka." The girl shouted back.

I turned and saw Tennoji stood behind me.

"Hey Tennoji." I said and waved to him.

"Stone." He said in surprise.

"Yutaka, is this your friend?" Yuko asked.

"Tennoji, you have a little sister?" I asked. "I had no idea."

He was silent for a moment "Stone, we're going to be late." He said.

He looked upset.

"Fine. It was nice to meet you Yuko." I said and smiled at her once more before I walked off.

I heard Tennoji speak to her but then he ran right past me. We weren't going to be that late, what was his hurry?

We all had our usual morning meeting at the 2nd, I was sat at my desk doing work. I was checking eyewitness etc. It was lunch time before I knew it.

"I'm going to lunch." Tennoji said and left the office.

"Hey, Stone?" Kirisawa said.

"Yes?" I said and looked up from my computer.

"Wanna grab some lunch together?" he asked. "There's a place around here with good soba noodles. My treat."

"That sounds great." I said.

I was starving.

So, we both left for lunch together and he took us to a cute restaurant.

"Order whatever you like. Basically everything on the menu is delicious." He said.

"Thanks." I said.

We sat at a table and ordered our food, as we waited I decided to ask about Tennoji's sister.

"Kirisawa, I was wondering if you could tell me about Tennoji's sister? I didn't even know he had one." I said.

"About Yuko?" he asked.

"Yeah, he never told me he had one." I said.

"He was probably unsure of how to broach the topic of his sister with you. Don't tell him that you heard this from me. Yuko wasn't born disabled. There was an incident, that's how she lost her ability to walk." He said.

"An incident?"

"You probably heard about it. About five years ago, there was a series of random attacks. One day, Tennoji was supposed to meet Yuko by a station that ended up being the scene of one such attack. Tennoji was running late because of work, by the time he arrived, Yuko had been… ever since that day, Tennoji has been obsessed with his work. He was always an excellent detective, but he started to work like a man possessed, closing cases and arresting criminals. The man who attacked his sister was never caught. Tennoji's been operating under the assumption that any perp he comes across could be that man. He told me about it one time when we were out drinking. He still blames himself for the whole thing."

I was rendered speechless, I had no idea.

"He thinks that if he had just been on time that day, Yuko would still be able to walk." He said.

"Does everyone in 2nd unit know about this?" I asked.

"Yeah, no one talks about it though." He said.

"Fair enough." I said.

I can't imagine it was the kind of thing the guys could just mention in casual conversation.

I then remembered about what Tennoji once said to me.

"The victim's suffering doesn't necessarily end when you a solve a case." He must've been talking about Yuko.

"Stone, don't treat him any differently than you did before. He's changed since he partnered up with you." He said.

"Really? How?" I asked.

"He's still as obsessed with the job as ever, but he seemed a little happier, somehow. You two could make a great pair. I really believe that you could save him from the despair he's been living in. I just wanted to tell you that."

I didn't see how I could do that but I suppose I could try to be there for him as a friend.

20 minutes later,

"Uh-oh, we're going to be late." Kirisawa said. "We'd better hurry back, Stone."

"Ok." I said.

We headed back to the building together, as we walked passed a car I heard a certain song playing on the radio.

"Man, that sons sure brings back memories." Kirisawa said. "Stone, do you know this song?"

"Of course, it's 'Give me wings; Tsubasa Wo Kudasai' right?"

The first verse ended and the chorus played. Then the second verse started.

Wait, did I just hear the words 'name' and fortune' just now?

Suddenly, everything clicked. When I was taken hostage, the man who tied me up had been humming a song. He had been singing 'Give me wings'. And then there was that note at the hideout.

"Stone, what is it?" Kirisawa asked.

"I broke the code!"

I then started to run back to the building with Kirisawa close behind.

"First of all, the man who took me hostage was singing a song called; 'Give me wings.' The note at the hideout said; 'No name, no fortune; give me wings.' 'Tsubasa wo Kudasai' is the subtitle for 'Give me wings'. And they sing, 'No name, no fortune.', at the beginning of the second verse." I explained to the guys.

"So what does that have to do with the bombings?" Hanai asked.

"The bombers labeled the map with Japanese characters. If you like the first four bombings together, the characters spell out 'Tsu,' 'ba,' 'sa,' 'wo'. Just like the song's subtitle, 'Tsubsa wo.'" I said.

"So the bombings will continue until they spell out. 'Tsubasa wo kudasai'?" Eiki asked.

"That means that the next target will be.." Hanai said.

"Here." I said and pointed to the map. I pointed to a block marked 'ku'. It was an expensive residential area.

Kirisawa sounded doubtful.

"But what in the world is the bombers' goal? What does 'Give me wings', mean to them?" he asked.

"It could be misdirection. The next bombing could be in a totally different place." Hanai said.

"Hmm." Kirisawa said thoughtfully.

He looked like he was unsure of what to do next. Tennoji had been quite up until this point but he then started to speak.

"I agree with Stone's theory. These bombers aren't just doing this for fun. If they have a larger goal in mind, the next bombing will take place in the 'ku' block, like Stone said."

I looked at him surprised, he was sticking up for me. I didn't expect that.

"Hmmm." Kirisawa said again. "Ok, here's the plan. Starting today, we'll patrol the area they have marked off as 'ku'. If there's an explosion in another area, we'll go back to the way we were doing things before. This isn't the best lead we have at the moment, let's hope that Stone's theory is right."

"Yes sir." We all said.

"Let's split up into teams to patrol."

He split us up into teams, me and Tennoji left together to patrol the area we were assigned to.

"It feels like we've had a break in the case." I said as he drove us.

"Yeah, we just have to work this lead. That was pretty impressive the way you cracked that code. I might have to start calling you Ms. Sherlock!" he said with a proud smile.

Another compliment? We must be getting on well for him to compliment me.

"What? Do you want to be Matlock instead?" he asked.

"As if! Sherlock it is. But it's thanks to you that I cracked the code." I said. "You're the one who told me to try to imagine what the perp was thinking. When I tried that, I was able to understand the bombers' message. Thank you."

"Stone." He said with a soft smile and looked me in the eye. It looked like he was going to say something but then he looked away. "Gross."

"What?" I asked.

"Ew! Don't get all mushy on me, it's gross. Things are gonna get weird if you keep talkin' like that."

"Fine, I won't compliment you then." I said and pulled a face at him.

"Oh yeah, Yuko wanted me to tell you thank you."

"Oh, she's welcome."

"She said you came to her rescue. She said you were sweating like crazy, and that you picked up her heavy wheelchair. So, as her big brother, I've gotta express my gratitude. Thank you, for real."

"Your welcome, I would have done it for anyone." I said with a shrug when we got a call from the radio.

"Roger. This is patrol car 105." I said.

"Stone?" Kirisawa asked.

"Yes. I'm in the car with Tennoji."

"It's an emergency, I need you guys to hurry to this address. We've gotten reports of an unusual smell in your patrol area. It looks like your theory might be right after all, Stone."

He gave us an address.

"I'm putting the siren's on." He said.

"Ok." I said.

He switched the sirens on and stepped on the gas. We speed towards the scene of the disturbance, I just hoped that we would catch these guys.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

A few days have passed since cracking the code, we had been patrolling an upper class residential neighborhood in the 'ku' block. We discussed our findings in the morning meeting.

"I patrolled the norten part of Minato ward. No unusual activity to report." Hanai said.

"I didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the southern part of the ward either." Kyobashi said.

"I see." Kirisawa said. "Tennoji and Stone have been patrolling the east and west. Did you find out what that suspicious odor was about?"

"It was caused by a certain kind of cleaner the city maintenance people have been using." I said.

I couldn't believe this, if my theory was right wouldn't we have at least found something? Could my theory be wrong? What if I was wasting everyone's time?

"Do you have any other abnormalities to report?" he asked.

"Well.."

"I don't see Tennoji?" Kyobashi said.

"He's late again." Asano said.

The door slammed open. Tennoji came running in, out of breath and panting.

"Sorry I'm late." He said. "No abnormalities found in the western and eastern parts of Minato ward."

"You're patrolling by yourself in the morning now?" Kirisawa asked.

"I had no idea." Eiki said.

Tennoji had been patrolling our area day and night, whenever he was free he was there. He really believed in my theory, the other guys only half believed me. It was nice that Tennoji supported me, I guess it was what good partners did for each other.

"How am I supposed to know what's going on if I'm not at the scene? It may take 100 patrols, but when something turns up, I'll be there to spot it." Tennoji said.

"I don't know about that.." Tokuda said as he came into the office.

What did the 1st unit want? All three of the 1st unit detectives walked into the office, it looks like they had been listening to our conversation.

"uh-oh, the reject triplets are here." Tennoji sneered.

"Who're you calling a reject?!" Tokuda demanded.

"A hundred patrols?" Urata asked. "What a joke. Could you guys be any more inefficient? Typical misfits."

"What's your mouth!" Hanai shouted.

"Yeah, Kazusa. Tell 'em!" Tennoji shouted.

"We're not all misfits in the 2nd unit, just Tennoji." Hanai said.

"What?!" Tennoji said angrily.

Seriously? Why did we all have to argue. I sat back in my chair and continued to sip my coffee, I didn't want to get involved in another argument.

"I've got a right to my opinion, and If I'm being honest, I don't have a whole lot of confidence in how you go about approaching cases." Hanai said.

"Ok then. If I'm being honest, I don't like your dumb vest!" Tennoji replied.

"Well it's not as if I like your earring!"

"Hey. This is fine jewelry."

"Whatever. I don't plan on losing to you any time soon." Hanai said.

"Hey." Tokuda said.

"Don't just ignore us." Urata said.

Could this fight be any more stupid, Kirisawa normally stepped in at times like these but not today. I then heard a voice from the other side of the door.

"What's that racket? Is this place a zoo?" they said.

"lieutenant!" Tokuda said in surprise.

"Itoi." Kirisawa said.

Itoi was the head of 1st unit, he was supposed to be all about showing off, and trying to get promotions. He was an elderly gentleman with grey hair and glasses, he wore a grey suit with a white shirt and a red and purple stripy tie.

"Quit the infighting. The eyes of the media are on the MPD, we can't afford a scandal." He said.

"It must be hard to concentrate on your caseload when you're always thinking about your public imagine." Kirisawa said.

"What?" itoi said.

"We don't work cases for brownie points like you guys. We do what we do because we're working to keep the people of this city safe. Don't forget what it really means to be an officer of the law." Kirisawa said with a cocky smile on his face.

"Pfft. Nice speech, now take that motivation and use it to catch the bombers. Let's go." Itoi said.

"Yes sir." The snob trio all said and the 1st unit returned to their office.

"Geeze! Could those guys be any more annoying?!" Kirisawa said angrily. "They're incapable of cooperating with us, but they sure are good at mocking us for no good reason!"

"Ok, Kirisawa you need to calm down." I said.

I couldn't believe I had to tell him to calm down, he was normally the level headed one.

"How am I supposed to be calm with those hypocrites in our midst? Listen up guys, time to step up our patrols! We need to prevent the next bombing from happening and put these terrorists behind bars. I want you guys to keep your eyes peeled. Don't miss a single detail!"

"Uh-oh, when Kirisawa gets excited his old motorcycle gang leader persona really comes out." Asano said.

"I can't deal with another hothead. Just Tennoji is enough." Kyobashi said.

"You talkin' to me?!" Tennoji demanded.

A few hours later, me and Tennoji were sat in his car.

"Stone, can you fill in this report for me?" he asked. "I didn't see anything out of the ordinary on my 02:00 patrol." He said.

We had been driving around 'ku' block but nothing seemed to be amiss.

"Sure. The 1st unit was right, this is inefficient." I said with a heavy sigh.

"Dummy. We can't throw in the towel now. When I first joined the force, there was this thing called the 'hundred-fold pilgrimage'. They would send me to the same crime scene over and over again, more than 100 times. We've only been through this area a few times, we can't give up now. The bombers could be waiting for us to back off before they strike. They could be waiting for us to stop patrolling, we gotta keep at it."

He seemed so confident.

"You're right." I agreed.

"What's your deal? Why so down?" he asked. "You must be hungry."

"You can tell?" I asked.

"Course I can tell. We've been working together for a while now, Let's stop some place and grab a bite to eat." He said.

He pulled into a restaurant's parking lot.

"Who ordered the meatloaf and fried shrimp?" A waiter asked.

"Oh, that's me." I said and put my hand up.

"Man! You sure can eat." Tennoji said and starred at me. "Meatloaf and shrimp? Most people just choose one or the other."

"You're one to talk, look at how big your steak is." I said.

"This is man food." He said.

"Well, man or woman, detectives need fuel." I said.

"Even so, you eat too much. It's not good for you." He said.

I poked my tongue out at him "You can't tell me what to do."

"Let me help you out with that." He said.

"Hey!" I said annoyed and quickly protected my plate with my arms.

He just stole a shrimp from my plate and put it in his mouth before I could react.

"What do you think you're doing? That was mine!"

"Haha! Too late now, I already ate it."

"Ok then, I'm cutting myself a piece of your steak." I said and reached out with my fork and knife.

"Hey! No stop! Here, I'll give you this carrot." He said and held out a small carrot to me.

"You're only giving that to me because you don't to eat it. Hand over a piece of your steak." I ordered and tried grabbing it again.

He moved the plate from my reach and knocked my hand away with his hand. We continued to quibbling over our dishes, the waiter looked our way and rolled his eyes.

"You know, a normal chick would just be like, 'Oh! I can't finish all this. Have some.'" Tennoji said.

"I don't order things I can't finish." I said.

"How no-nonsense of you." He said.

"I'm not the type to put on a cutesy act."

"I'm not mad, I'd rather you be yourself." He said.

"Huh?"

"I like you the way you are." He said.

I stopped eating and looked at him.

"Thanks, I like you to. Looks like we're finally getting along." I said and smiled.

It was nice that we were becoming friends. The waiter then walked up with dessert.

"Who ordered the raspberry tart?" he asked.

"Oh me!" I said and put my arm up.

"What? You ordered dessert too?" Tennoji asked.

"Of course. A meal's not over until you have dessert." I said.

"I didn't know you got dessert. When did you order that? Give me some!"

"No, sorry I can't." I said and moved my plate away from him so he couldn't take any.

"Don't be like that. Just one bite."

"No. If I give you one bite, you'll try and eat at least half of it."

"Fine, feed it to me." He said.

"Ok but only one bite." I said.

"Fine." He agreed and opened his mouth.

I took a forkful of tart and put it into his mouth.

"Aaa.. Man, this shit is good!" he beamed. "Maybe I should order one for myself?"

"Go for it. Because I'm not giving you any more of mine." I warned.

"Heh." He chuckled.

He then rested his chin in his hand and watched me eat. Why was he watching me? Was he just doing it to freak me out? I can't eat with someone watching me like that.

"You always look like you're enjoying your food so much. You make whatever you're eating look so good, it makes me hungry." He said.

"You can say whatever you want, I'm still not giving you any more of my tart." I said.

"Damn, ya got me." He said and laughed.

After we had finished eating, we returned to the car to continue patrolling.

"Man, I'm so full. I think I ate too much." He said.

"Thank you for paying." I said.

I had offered to pay half of the bill but he wouldn't let me.

"You're welcome. Oh there's something down by your feet."

He reached down and picked up a postcard-sized piece of paper.

"It's an invitation to a class reunion." He said.

"Oh that's mine, it must've fallen out of my bag." I said.

"What's the reunion for? Junior High? High school?" he asked.

"University, it's just an informal get-together with some people I had class with. I got it in the mail this morning, I can't wait to see everyone."

"So.. is your college boyfriend going to be there?" he asked.

Where did that come from? Why was he so interested?

"Probably. Why do you care? Jealous?" I asked.

"Huh? Are you stupid or somethin'? Why would I be jealous? Can't a man ask a simple question?" he asked.

"Chill, I was joking." I said.

He sighed to himself and looked away. Was he really jealous about an ex-boyfriend?

Whatever.

"I can't wait to see everyone; it's going to be so much fun." I said and couldn't help but smile.

I wondered if Tom would be there, Tom was my ex-boyfriend. We dated in University and we were in the same regiment at the army, we did our basic training together. I bet he hadn't changed much. I often thought about him, especially when I was alone. I missed having him around.

We drove in silence till Tennoji noticed something.

"Stone, does that house look weird to you?" he asked and pointed out the of the window.

The house was giant, it looked like a mansion.

"The bombers other targets have been factories, buildings, schools. All relatively large structures, they could be trying to show off the power of their explosives." He said.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"Most of the buildings around here are private homes, which I don't think they would blow up. If I was the bomber, I'd pick that place." He said.

"Me too."

"Let's go check it out." He said.

We got out of the car and walked up to the mansion.

*ding* *dong*

The resident of the mansion opened the front door.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"We're with the Metro PD. We're patrolling the area, we're sorry to disturb you, but do you think we could take a look around your house?" Tennoji asked.

"Why?" the man asked.

"Well, you see.." Tennoji began.

The problem was, we didn't have any concrete evidence proving that the next bombing would be here, so we couldn't just enter the mansion without permission. The case was difficult to explain, and the owner of the house seemed wary.

"I don't know about all this, you want to search my house but you don't have a warrant?" he asked. "I don't trust cops, and you two-"

We then heard a sudden whoosh, like something was flying through the air. Next, we heard something hit and roll on the ground before white smoke appeared in the back garden.

"Wh-what's that?!" the man shouted.

"It's a pipe bomb, run!" Tennoji shouted.

We ran into the garden. By the time we spotted the bomb, the fuse was almost completely burned up.

"There's no time!" I shouted.

"It's going to blow!" Tennoji shouted.

He grabbed the bomb and threw it into the pond. He then pulled me by the hand and we ran away from the pond.

"Stone! Get down!"

We both threw ourselves to the ground, Tennoji covered my body with his own as the bomb exploded.

I heard a huge explosion behind me, the mansions windows shook with the force of the explosion. Water flew up into the air and crashed down onto us, gravel and rock flew in every direction. Tennoji held me close protecting me.

I covered my ears and tried to remain calm. Silence then fell upon the garden.

"You ok?" Tennoji asked.

"Yeah, are you ok?" I asked.

We stood up and checked each other for injuries. Tennoji was hit by some of the flying rocks, his hand and head were bleeding.

"You're bleeding." I said and reached to his head.

"Hm? Oh. These are just scratches, no big deal."

He seemed ok, I sighed with relief. My heard pounded, my hands were shaking.

"Stone, are you sure you're ok?" he asked.

"I think so." I said.

"Ok." He said and also sighed with relief.

He squatted to the ground and buried his face into his hands and laughed.

"Damn, I'm so glad you're ok! That explosion was freaking crazy."

I laughed, he was pretty amazing. I couldn't take my eyes off him.

"You straight up covered in dirt, Stone." He said.

I looked down at my clothes "Oh well."

"This aint a girl's job, that's for sure." He said and brushed the dirt and sand from my clothes.

"Thanks." I said.

"It's just like you said. There was a bombing in 'ku' block." He said.

"I knew I was right!" I beamed and jumped up and down.

"We don't got time to waste. I'm calling an emergency 2nd unit meeting now." He said.

"Fine, let's go." I agreed and we headed back to the car.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Alright, let's start this emergency meeting." Kirisawa said. "A fifth bombing occurred yesterday, we know that the connection between the bomber's map and their code, 'Give me wings'. Is not just coincidental. Tsubasa wo Kudasai' is the key to cracking this case. There has yet to be a fatality, but if the bombing were to occur on a crowded street, we could have multiple deaths on our hands."

All the guys fell silent. Just thinking about that gave me the chills.

"Let's get these bad guys off the streets, we won't be able to catch them by just patrolling." Hanai said.

"Yeah, let's decide who does what. Hanai and Yachigusa, I want you two to look in this Mikami guy." Kirisawa said.

"Understood." Hanai said.

"Asano and Kyobashi, find out what these bombs are being made of and how they're getting their hands on the necessary materials."

"Yes sir." Kyobashi said.

"Stone, I want you to make a list of past bombers, terrorists and any organization or individuals connected to them. I want Tennoji to look into everyone on that list. Tennoji, show her where to find that information."

"Ok." Tennoji said.

"We still haven't received any demands from the bombers, but this looks like terrorism. I want you all on high alert." Kirisawa said.

"Yes sir!"

We were finally getting somewhere with the case, if we kept going like this it wouldn't be long till we solved the case.

Tennoji quickly explained how to make the criminals list.

"Go to the database for the past cases, and pick out people with connections to bombings and terrorism. Then delete the people who are clearly innocent from the list." He said.

"Clearly innocent?" I asked.

"People who are currently in prison or living overseas, people who couldn't be connected with our bombers. People with alibis preventing them from being around on the day of the bombings should also be deleted. It should be pretty easy to check on the alibis of people who have regular jobs. After that, give me the list of the people you have left, the suspicious ones. I'll check 'em all out."

"How do I decide who's suspicious and who's not?" I asked.

"You've gotta trust your instincts. Look at their criminal histories, and check to see whether or not they work in a field where they would have easy access to the materials necessary to make a bomb. Don't let any prejudices or pre-conceived notions cloud your judgement. Too many investigations get messed up because of those kinds of mistakes. This could take a while, we've gotta be patient and stick with it."

"Ok." I said.

"Don't look so worried, do what you can do. Trust me to take care of the rest. Got it?" he said.

"Got it."

"Ok." He nodded forcefully.

I was nervous, this was my first time making a list like this but I had to do my best. I wasn't going to stop till I put the bombers behind bars.

"Ok then, I'm off." Tennoji said.

"Good luck!" Kirisawa said.

"Yutaka looks like he's feeling motivated." Eiki said.

"We had better give it our all too. I don't want to lose to him." Kyobashi said.

I turned to my computer and went onto the database.

"Hello? Tennoji? About the fifth guy on the list I just sent you, he's a science professor at a private university in Tokyo. Or at least he was until he quit last year, his sudden departure seems to have had something to do with a large amount of missing chemicals. Move him to the top of the list of suspects."

I got off the phone with Tennoji and looked back at my computer screen. Kirisawa started talking to me as he got ready to leave the office.

"How's it going?" He asked.

"It's going ok, we've got about 20 more possible suspects to check out." I said.

"I wish I could help you guys out more, but if I don't leave for this meeting right now, I'm gonna be in trouble." He said.

"It's ok, I'll be fine." I said and smiled at him.

"Ok, don't work too hard. You guys don't have to go through that whole list today." He said.

"I know but everyone's working so hard, and if this is all I can do then I need to my bit as well." I said.

"Stone." He looked me in the eyes, his expression softened as he looked at me kindly. "You've really become quite the detective."

"Thanks."

"Don't say stuff like, 'This is all I can do'. It's because of your hard work that Tennoji is able to be out there working the case. 2nd unit needs you Stone."

I felt touched by his words "I won't stop till we have these guys behind bars. I will do my best to make sure that happens."

"Haha. You're a good man to have around here. Try to get home before it gets too late." He said.

He patted me on the shoulder and left the office.

I focused back on my list making.

A few hours later, Hanai and Eiki walked into the office.

"Hi." Eiki beamed. "What are you still doing here Freya?"

"It's already 11:00, you should go home." Hanai said.

"I will in a minute, I've just got a few more things to do. Then I've narrowed the list down to 10 people." I said.

"Wow. You sure are motivated." Eiki said.

"I just want to do whatever I can." I said.

"That's real passion. You should go home before it gets too late." Hanai said.

Two hours later, Asano and Kyobashi walked into the office.

"Stone, it's 1am." Kyobashi said.

"The last train…" Asano said.

"I already missed it." I said.

"If you'd like, I could give you a ride home." Kyobashi offered.

"That's really nice of you, but I want to finish just a little bit more. I'll just get a taxi home when I'm done." I said.

"If you say so." Kyobashi said. "Get home safe."

"Bye." Asano said.

"Bye guys." I said as they left.

Everyone in 1st unit had also gone home; I was the only person left on the floor.

There was only a few more names on the list, I didn't have long to go till I finished the list.

"Stone… Stone!"

My head snapped up and I realized that I had dozed off. I opened my eyes to see Tennoji stood in front of me, stifling with laughter.

"You didn't go home?" he asked.

"Uh.. what time is it?" I asked and rubbed my tired eyes.

"5am, almost dawn."

"5am?!"

I turned on my computer screen to make sure that was the time. I must have fallen asleep whilst finishing the list.

"I took a look at the list while you were asleep, you narrowed it down to five people. You killed that list, good job."

"Thanks. Did you just get back?" I asked.

"Yeah, just a minute ago." He said. "I thought someone had left the light on, but it was just you, fast asleep. Now I know what you look like when you're asleep." He said with a cheeky smile.

"Oh Shut up." I said and pushed him away.

"Nah, for real. You were drooling like crazy."

I glared at him.

"I'm messing with you. You actually looked kinda… cute."

He was blushing, he looked so cute when he was blushing.

Embarrassed by his own words, he stretched out his arms wide to hide his face.

He yawned "I'm gonna make coffee, you want some?" he asked.

"Yes please, that would be great." I said.

"'k, I'll go put a pot on. Just sit on the sofa and wait." He said and patted me on the head.

A few minutes later, we sat next to each other on the sofa, drinking our coffee.

I took a sip and felt the coffee's warmth spread throughout my body.

"Mmm. This is so good. You make really good coffee." I said.

"Obviously, there's nothing I can't do." He said.

And the arrogant Tennoji is back. Every time I think he's a good guy and that things were changing between us, he switches back in a flash.

"On the real, though… Pulling all-nighters is rough. I am wrecked." He said.

He laid down and rested his head on the sofa's arm rest. He then closed his eyes and started to fall asleep.

"Tennoji?"

"Hmm.."

He started to snore, he must be really tired. He started to inch his way closer till his head was leaning on my shoulder.

I was tempted to wake him but he must be so tired, I decided to leave him where he was. I carefully reached into my pocket and pulled out my mobile and took a quick selfie of us together, I made sure that I pulled a funny face.

I couldn't wait to show the others! Haha.

As his leaned in, he suddenly jumped awake in surprise.

"Whoa! I legit fell asleep for a second.." he said.

"It was for a little longer than just a second." I said with a giggle.

"For real?"

"You should go to sleep. We have a sofa right here." I said.

"Nah, I can't do that. If I fall asleep, I'll never be able to wake up. I've gotta stay up."

"Don't be stupid. You have to work today and you can't work if you don't get any sleep." I said.

"Nah, I'll be fine." He said. "I'm not going to give in to the Sandman."

"I don't know if that's going to work." I said.

"I can try but you're right, I might lose that battle. Stone, tell me a story. Something interesting, so I can stay awake."

"I don't know any interesting stories." I said.

"Ok then tell me about why you were in the army." He said.

I sighed and looked away for a moment. "My father made me join, he's an army general. We made a deal, he would pay for me to go to the police academy and to go to university for my law degree if I would go into the army for a year. I completed my basic training, went into the army for a year and left as soon as I was able."

"That sucks. What did you do in the army?" he asked.

"I was stationed in Iraq for 6 months, I was starting my training to be snipper. I was one of the best shots in my unit. But all I ever wanted to do was be a detective, help people. The army do nothing but use brute force to fix things. It was all my father was ever good at. Anyway, I don't want to talk about this." I said.

"OK, then tell me about you ex. Tell me what he said when he broke up with you."

"Um excuse me.. what makes you think he broke up with me?" I asked.

"Damn.. I'm fading fast. Everything is going blurry. You look so pretty Stone.."

I froze and looked at him, he was blushing again but he was starting to wobble.

"Hey!"

I grabbed him and pulled him up before he fell off the sofa, I then took his head and rested it on my lap.

"Wh-whoa! What're ya doin'? You tryin' to seduce me?"

"Just be quite and go to sleep!" I hissed. "We have three hours until everyone gets to work. I'll wake you up before then."

"Stone.. you're not gonna sleep?" he asked.

"No, I've slept for at least 5 hours, I'm fine. But you need sleep, you won't be able to drive otherwise. And if you can't drive, we won't be able to work the case and if we can't work the case, it'll take longer to catch the bombers."

"Stone.."

"I really want to get those guys off the street as soon as we can." I said.

"Ok. I'll borrow your lap and catch some Z's, just for a little while." He said and closed his eyes.

I looked down at his face, he looked so tired and he was working so hard. I began to gently pat him on the head. He opened his eyes in surprise and looked up at me.

"what're you-?"

"It's to help you sleep, so hurry up and go to sleep." I said.

He sighed but he was smiling so he couldn't hate it that much.

"How does it feel?" I asked.

"I guess it feels pretty good." He mumbled before closing his eyes once more.

I continued to slowly and rhythmically to pat his head.

"Mmm. This is really putting me to sleep…"

"Good."

"Who taught you to do this?" he asked.

"My mum, she use to do this when I was little." I said.

"You're like a mother to me Stone." He said.

"Gross." I said.

"I'm joking. You make me feel so relaxed.."

He then finally fell asleep. His hair was soft, he had lost all of his usual hardness from his face. What was this warm feeling in my chest? Was I developing feelings for Tennoji?

No don't be silly! He's my partner, nothing more. Get a hold of yourself.

He started to move in his sleep,

"Stone.." he said before he latched onto me and hugged me tightly.

"Hey." I said but I couldn't bring myself to wake him up.

He hugged me tightly as he continued to sleep.

"So soft…" he mumbled.

I continued to sip my coffee and started playing on my phone to kill time, if only I had a pen I could have drawn on him.

I looked down at his sleeping face, I wondered what he was dreaming about?

Two hours later, I was sat at my desk looking at my face. I looked a state, other then working a night shift I had never spent a whole night at work. All of my makeup was smudged, my hair was a mess.

"Stone." Tennoji said as he walked back into the office.

His hair was wet, he must have just taken a shower in the night watchmen's shower room.

"You should take a shower too, it feels great!"

"You look a bit better, more refreshed." I said as I sipped more coffee.

"I got two hours of sleep, thanks to you Stone."

He flashed me a carefree smile and I smiled back.

"That was legit the best sleep I've gotten in forever. You're way better than my body pillow."

I burst out laughing "You have a body pillow?"

I couldn't imagine a tough guy like him having a body pillow.

"Will you be my new pillow, Stone? Your new nickname can be Tempur-Pedic Stone.."

"No, that's a weird nickname just Stone and if I do become your new pillow, will I get paid? I charge a lot for my services." I said and held out my hand.

"Smart mouth." He said and we both laughed.

"Anyway, I'm going to go shower." I said and left.

I felt so much better after a shower, I pulled my long hair back into a bun. It was still wet but I didn't care.

Kirisawa was running late for the morning meeting.

"Stone, I made some more coffee." Tennoji said as I walked into the office.

"Thanks."

"I used some fancy coffee beans this time, so it should be even better than the coffee I made before." He said.

"Hey, you didn't use the Kilimanjaro beans I had hidden, did you?" Hanai asked.

"A 12 ounce bag is like $25." Tennoji said.

Why was he being so nice? Was it because I let him sleep on my lap?

"Do you take it black? Or with milk?" he asked.

"I'll take a caramel macchiato." I said.

"Huh?"

"I said I'll talk a caramel macchiato."

"A care-what?"

"Are you deaf? A caramel macchiato." I said louder.

"Oh Yutaka, you're so different when you're talking to Freya." Eiki said, with an amused smile on his face. "When you're hanging out with us guys, you spend most of your time calling us morons and stuff, but you and Freya seem like you really get along."

"Don't be a moron." Tennoji snapped.

"I was actually thinking the same thing." Hanai said. "You're as rude as ever but you and Stone seem to have fun when you argue."

"It's not like that, I'm just making fun of her." Tennoji said.

I rolled my eyes and sighed, men. But they weren't wrong, we were getting along really well. He was a good partner and a good friend. I looked at Tennoji, he would make a good boyfriend but we were partners and we were finally working well together. I didn't want to mess that up and I knew Tennoji felt the same way, he was too professional to mess up our relationship with romance.

"Yeah, just like a grade school boy teasing the girl he likes." Kyobashi said.

"He's so transparent." Asano said.

"Um.. um.. urg.." Tennoji mumbled and stuttered.

He never got made fun of this much, it looked like he was taking it hard. He was desperately trying to defend himself.

"This chick is always messing up my casework. She's just getting in my way." He shouted.

He was being a jerk again but I did feel kind of bad for him.

The others were about to respond to his outburst when Kirisawa walked in.

"Sorry I'm late, let's hurry and start the meeting." He said.

Everyone instantly became serious and we all went into work mode.

"Regarding todays investigation, I want you guys to take a look at this map. Yesterday we had a fifth bombing, it happened in 'ku' block. According to the 'Tsubasa wo Kudasai' code, the next bombing should be in the blocks labeled 'da' and then 'sa'."

"That's.." Asano began.

"There's a huge concentration of embassies in that area." Kyobashi said.

"We finally know what they're aiming for." Tennoji said.

"The bombings up until point have only been practice for what's to come." Hanai said.

"Today, I want everyone to split up and speak to security guards in these locations. If you get word of anything even the slightest bit suspicious, let me know ASAP." Kirisawa said.

"Yes sir!"

Tennoji and I headed to the 'da' block, we asked an embassy's security guard a few questions.

"This embassy opens it's doors to the public in April for cherry blossom season, correct?" Tennoji asked. "Do you have any record of any suspicious activity during that period?"

"Nope, I didn't hear about anything. Everyone we let in for cherry blossom viewing has to show their ID." The security guard said.

"I see." Tennoji said.

"And a security guard is always on duty. No one enters or leaves the premises without permission. Well, no one except for that cat over there."

"Cat?" Tennoji asked.

The security guard pointed to a cat sleeping on a nearby wall.

"Tennoji." I said and poked him.

"Hm?"

"Is that cat wearing a backpack?" I said.

"A backpack? Stone, that aint no backpack. It's a bomb!"

Another bomb?!

"Stone, hold him down!"

"Ok." I said and pinned the cat to the floor.

"If we shake this thing around too much, both me and the cat are goners."

Tennoji tried to removed the bomb, it was strapped to the cat's body really tightly that he couldn't get it off.

"We should wait for the bomb squad." I said.

"No, bombs like these respond too light and heat. If the temperature rises above a certain threshold, it'll explode. It's hot out today and the sun will be directly above our heads in about 10 minutes. It'll take the bomb squad at least 40 minutes to get here, right?"

"Yeah, that's what they said on the phone. So, what are we going to do?"

"It's up to us." He said firmly.

After a struggle, we finally managed to get the bomb off the cat. The clip snapped open, we both froze waiting to see if the bomb would react.

"Meow.." the cat stood up, shook itself off and ran off happily.

"Oh my god." I said and sighed, my heart was pounding. "I can't believe those guys would do that to a poor little cat."

"Who cares about the stupid cat?! Those assholes are messing with us, this is just a game to them. If we find that cat, if we can we win. If we can't find it, they win." He said.

He was right, I was starting to get annoyed. The moment I found these guys, I was going to beat the crap out of them!

"Tennoji! Stone!" Hanai shouted as he came running towards us.

He was immediately followed by the rest of the 2nd unit. I explained the situation to everyone and how we stopped the bomb from going off.

"I see.. good work." Hanai said and smiled at me.

"So the 'da' block is in the clear." Eiki said.

"Yeah, but we can't take it easy just yet. We don't know what these guys have planned for us next." Tennoji said.

We all headed to the area marked 'sa' on the map, I rode with Tennoji.

"Let's go." I said.

When Tennoji didn't respond, I turned and looked at him.

"Tennoji, are you ok?" I asked.

He sighed deeply and wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Hold up for a second, my hands just started shaking."

"So even you get the shakes sometimes?" I asked.

"Yeah. Bombs like the one we took off that cat are pretty powerful. A guy I used to work with was blown up by a similar one a while back. I wasn't worried for myself but, when I think about what could have happened to you back there, I can't not freak out." He said.

"Tennoji…" I said and placed my hand on his shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. "It's ok, I'm fine and you're fine so we're all good."

But I knew how dangerous that situation was, that was the third bomb I had faced. It was getting ridiculous but at least we were getting closer to stopping the bombings. I was thankful to have such a good partner to work with, otherwise there would be no way that I could do this.

"Smile for me, your smile always cheers me up." He said.

"Only if you tell me a joke." I said and removed my hand from his shoulder.

"After what we just went through? I don't know if I can." He said.

"Wimp." I teased and flashed a cheeky smile at him, making him chuckle.

"Ya know.. even on a case as tough as this one… when I look at your face, I feel like everything's gonna be ok." He said.

I was silent for a moment, our eyes met and we couldn't look away from each other. It was like time had stopped.

No, we were getting too close. This was dangerous territory, if we kept this up things would start to go wrong. Tennoji was the first to break the silence.

"We should go. Everyone'll be waiting." He said.

"Yeah, let's go." I said.

We drove in silence and made our way to the next location, both of us wrapped up in our own thoughts.

"There are lots of embassies in the 'sa' block too." He said when we reached the next location. "We should split up to cover more ground."

"Good idea." I agreed.

"I'll take that side of the street and you take this side, ok? I'll be nearby, so if anything happens, just yell."

"Understood." I said and nodded.

We separated and I walked up to a nearby embassy and started speaking to the security guard. I happened to notice a man standing in the shadow of a telephone pole.

Wait a minute, it was Mikami!

He was well hidden by the shadows but I could tell it was him.

He walked off, I don't think he noticed me. I couldn't let him get away, I started to follow him. I used my phone and sent a quick text to Tennoji telling him that I was following Mikami.

Mikami walked quickly around the back of the embassy, he took a grey box out from his bag. That must be the bomb.

"Mikami!" I shouted and jumped out from my hiding place.

He froze.

"Hold it right there, police!" I shouted.

He started to panic and tried to run off. I chased after him, as I started to catch up to him someone hit me on the back of head. I fell straight to floor, the back of my head exploded in pain. I reached up and I could feel blood.

Damn it!

I tried to crawl forwards but I soon lost consciousness.

"Ugh…" I moaned as I started to wake up.

Where was I?

I tried to move but my hands were tied behind my back and my feet were tied together.

Not again!

"What are we going to do with this girl?" Mikami asked.

"We'll be in big trouble if the cops find us." A new voice said.

I couldn't my eyes, my head pounded and I felt very dizzy.

"We're so close to reaching our goal, we can't let anyone get in our way." The new voice said.

"So.."

"There's no other option. This girl has to die." The new voice said.

From the way he was talking, he must be the boss.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I could finally open my eyes and things started to blur into focus. I was in some kind of abandoned building, I was on the floor with my hands and feet tied up. There were a few men in the room, Mikami being one of them. They were all standing around.

"But King, isn't killing a cop kind of a big deal?" Mikami asked. "They'll put us away for a long time for that."

"That doesn't matter. A lot of people are going to die, who cares if one of them is a cop?" the king said.

He was a tall thin man with wispy black hair. He didn't look that old, about 25 or 26 years old. He looked like he could be intelligent, maybe a scientist or something.

"You're right, there'll be lots of other cops at the summit anyway." Mikami said.

"Idiot!" King snapped.

"Oh.." Mikami said and looked away.

They were going to blow up the summit?

"Meh, whatever. This woman will be dead soon, it doesn't matter if she hears us talking." The king said. "Hey girl. You're alive right? I thought for sure that other explosion had killed you."

"You were the one who did that to me?!"

"Do you know what this is?" he asked and showed me a gray box with a timer on it.

I knew instantly that it was a bomb.

"What do you want? Are you actually going to set off a bomb at the summit?" I asked.

"Don't sound so shocked, you know there's going to be an international summit in Tokyo next week. The leaders of every developed nation on the earth will be in one place. I can't let an opportunity like that pass me by. We're going to blow up that summit." He said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because the leaders gathered there are the one responsible for ruining the world as we know it. When did Japan become such a nanny-state, lacking in any real freedom? Politicians have led Japan down a path to ruin their own selfish reasons, for the sake of fortune and name, just like the song says. The wealthiest 1% of the population is exploiting the bottom 99%. Ridiculous right? So I'm going to blow up all those idiots at the summit, and I'll build a new, free Japan."

He spoke with such passion; he was clearly very impressed with himself. The other men and Mikami listened intently as he spoke.

"These guys are my comrades in arms, they believe in my dream for a better world. They come from all walks of life, some of them are even government employees like yourself. They'll be the ones to live in the new, free Japan that I will create." He said.

"You're crazy. You talk about freedom but what about the freedom of the people you murder? You're as bad as, if not worse, than the corrupt government you hate so much!" I shouted.

"Pfft. Some sacrifices must be made, that's just the way things are." He said.

"As long as the sacrificed don't affect you, right? You're a despicable person!"

"It looks like I've talked for too long. Hey, Mikami!"

"Yes sir."

Mikami strapped the bomb to my legs.

"No! Please don't!" I shouted and tried to kick him but he held my legs down so he could put the bomb on.

The ropes dug into my legs painfully.

"Too bad you won't be around to see the birth of my new world, but I hope you'll be praying for our success. Later." The king said.

"No! Please! Let me go! Please!"

He then started the countdown on the bomb. The device beeped and red numbers appeared on the screen reading '10:00.'

"Ok, let's go." The king said. "Mikami, are the boats ready?"

"I have three waiting around the back." Mikami said.

All of the men hurried off, the only noise left in the empty room was the beep of the bomb.

"No! Someone help! Help me please!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, I knew it was pointless. There would be no one around now. I had to get free of the ropes, I tried to get my hands frees but the ropes were too tight.

I then spotted my handbag next to me and inside, I saw my mobile phone. It had been smashed, the men must have broken it.

Dammit!

I looked around the room, there must be something I could use to cut the ropes. I could see a broken pipe behind me. I started to move backwards on my bum till I reached the pipe. I tried to rub the ropes against the jagged edge.

"Ow! Ow!"

I kept catching my hands and wrists on the pipe but not the ropes.

"Come on, come on!"

"Stone! Where are you?" Tennoji shouted.

My head instantly snapped up, Tennoji was here?

"Tennoji! I'm in here! Tennoji!" I shouted.

I heard running footsteps and he appeared in the doorway.

"Stone!"

"Tennoji, how did you know where I was?" I asked.

"Our phones are equipped with GPS. We're lucky the bombers waited until they got here before they broke your pho-"

He then noticed the bomb on my legs. He looked at the timer and all of the colour drained from his face.

"4:53, it's going to blow in four minutes?!"

What? I sighed and tears filled my eyes, this was it. I was going to die, there was no getting out of it this time.

"Don't worry, everybody's on their way here. We even have the local police coming as backup. They should be here any second." He said, his face was dripping in sweat.

He was trying to sound confident but he looked terrified. We both knew they weren't going to get here in 4 minutes. He then started trying to untie the ropes on my legs.

"Goddammit, these ropes are tied too tightly. I can't get them loose!"

"Tennoji, get out of here. There's no point in us both dying." I said.

"Shut up, Dummy. I've got four minutes' left. I'll figure something out and save you."

He worked furiously to untie the ropes, but they were so tight he couldn't get them undone. The seconds on the time tick by.

"Tennoji, listen to me. The bombers are a group of men in their mid-twenties. They seem to be mostly college students, they call their leader 'King'. He's around 25, he looks like a scientist or a researcher." I said.

Since I was going to die, I might as well tell Tennoji. He needed to stop them.

"You can tell me all that later." He said.

"They're going to plant a bomb at the international summit at the end of the month. They want to blow up the leaders of the nations assembled there."

"Stone!" he shouted.

"You need to get out of here and tell everyone about the bombers' plans. We need to stop them so go!" I shouted back.

"I've gotta save you first."

"There's no time, go already." I said almost begging him.

I couldn't let him die here with me, not like this.

"I can't leave you here. I need something to cut these ropes with." He said.

He looked around the room. He then ran at the window with enough force to break the glass. He picked up the biggest piece and used it like a knife to cut the ropes.

*shhhook* *shhhook* *shhhook*

"Your hand is bleeding." I said.

"Don't worry 'bout that."

"Please run away, leave!" I begged.

"No Dummy." He said jokingly as he continued to cut the ropes. "If one of us has gotta die, I'd rather us die together."

I sighed, tears rolled down my cheeks.

"We're partners."

"Tennoji, don't be so nice to me. It's freaking me out." I said trying to distract myself from how scared I was.

He chuckled "When have I ever been nice to you? You're always so freakin' annoying."

"Tennoji, if we get out of this.."

"Yeah?" he said.

"I want you to make me coffee. It was so tasty." I said.

"I'll make you coffee anytime you want. I'll even go get you one of those caramel-whatevers to eat."

"It's not food, it's a drink." I stated.

"For real?"

"Yeah, where have you been living, under a rock?"

We both laughed.

"Ok, then when we get outta here, we can go drink some together." He said and flashed me his normal charming smile.

That few seconds of banter made me briefly forget where we were, I was never going to see him or my family again.

"Stone, don't give up!" he said loudly.

*beep* *beep* *beep* *beep*

The timer continued. There was less than a minute left!

"Damn it! If only I could cut this better."

He gripped the shard of glass tighter, his hand was covered in blood but he wasn't giving up.

30 seconds left.

*beep* *beep*

Twenty seconds!

*beep* *beep*

"Goddammit!" he shouted.

"Tennoji, you have to run! Get out of here!" I shouted.

10, 9, 8..

The ropes came apart.

"I cut through!"

The ropes came apart and the bomb fell to the floor. Tennoji scooped me up into his arms and run for the window.

"Stone, hold on tight!"

"Ahhh!"

Still holding onto me, he jumped through the broken glass, out of the window. We flew through the air and fell headfirst into the water below. The moment we hit the water, the bomb exploded.

With my hands still tied behind my back, I started to sink to the bottom. I tried to kick my legs but without my arms, I couldn't swim.

It was getting hard to breath, as I sank deeper things started to go hazy.

Tennoji grabbed my sinking body and pulled me tight to his chest. He held my head and he kissed me hard. Bubbles of air leaked out from where our lips touched. I felt him push air into my mouth as he kissed me. I opened my eyes as I started to regain consciousness. Using his free arm to swim, he moved us up to the surface of the water.

I gasped as I burst from the surface and took in two deep breaths and coughed. Tennoji had hold of my body.

"Stone, hold on to this board." He said.

Wreckage from the now-destroyed building floated in the water. With one arm still wrapped around me, he grabbed onto the board and lifts me up out of the water so I was lying on it.

I looked over at the docks, the building was gone. If Tennoji hadn't been able to cut through the ropes in time, I would be dead. Just the thought of that, made me shiver.

"Stone, stay still." He said.

"Huh?"

I then felt the ropes around my wrists disappear.

"Thank you." I said and brought my hands in front of my hands.

They were numb from being tied to tightly and the ropes had cut into my wrists, making them bleed.

"You're bleeding." He said.

"So are you." I said and pointed to his hand.

"I'm fine but you're arms..." He said.

He gently took my hands in his, his big fingers gingerly stroked my wrists.

"That musta hurt. That was pretty rough back there." He said.

"You saved us both, we're alive thanks to you. I owe you my life." I said.

"Yeah, now we can go eat one of those caramel things."

"How many times do I have to tell you? It's a drink!"

My god, does he never listen?

I sighed and tears started to roll down my cheeks, Tennoji just saved my life and we were arguing about drinks. He was amazing.

"Stone, are you crying?" he asked.

"No." I said and turned my face so he couldn't see it.

"Dummy.." he said and wrapped his arms around me. He pulled me in tight to his chest and whispered in my ear. "Everything's ok now, I'm here."

I buried my face into his firm chest.

"I'm not goin' anywhere." He said.

I couldn't stop myself from crying. I felt him place his finger under my chin and he lifted my head up so he could look at my face.

"Don't cry after I worked so hard to save you." He said.

He then placed his hand on my cheek,

"Don't cry." He whispered and wiped my tears away with his thumbs.

"If you keep being this nice to me, I'll get use to it and then you'll have to be like this all the time." I said and tried my best to stop crying.

He chuckled half heartedly before he pulled me forwards and our lips met.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

He grasped the back of my head and continued to kiss me. Our wet bodies pressed up against each other, I could feel his heart beating against mine.

I couldn't believe what we were doing. We're were partners, we couldn't get romantically involved so why wasn't I pulling away?

Our kiss ended and we gazed into each other's eyes. We both smiled before Tennoji continued to hug me as we bobbed up and down in the water. I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck.

I then heard the sound of a speed boat.

"That's the coast guard." He said.

I could hear the sound of a boat accompanied by a siren approaching from far away. Squad cars arrived on shore, it looks like the local police had arrived.

"Heeey! We're over here! Hurry! Stone's hurt!" Tennoji shouted waving his arms.

We were pulled onto the boat, I was to be sent straight to hospital once we got back to shore.

"You two are soaked." A policeman said as they wrapped us up in blankets.

"Thanks." Tennoji said.

"Thank you." I said and pulled the blanket tightly around my body.

I couldn't believe what had just happened, this was all so crazy.

"Stone, I'll tell Boss what you said when I get back to the office." Tennoji said.

"The bombers' plan?" I asked.

"This case is too big for the 2nd unit to handle on it's own." He said.

I nodded, he had a point.

When we returned to shore, an ambulance was waiting. I was placed inside and take straight to hospital. They made me stay in overnight for tests and observation. Thankfully, other than a mild head injury and a few cuts and bruises I was fine.

The next morning, there was an emergency meeting.

"Let's begin the joint meeting." Nomura said.

He was our boss. The 1st unit, 2nd unit and members of the bomb squad all gathered in the meeting room. The MPD was treating the bombers as terrorists.

"First thing we need to know is the terrorists goal. We need to know who is trying to do what and why." Nomura said.

"Allow me to address that point. Yesterday, Stone from the 2nd unit was able to successfully make contact with the terrorists. She overheard the following information; The leader of the group, a man named King, and this college-aged followers are planning to plant a bomb at this month's international summit, to assassinate as many world leaders as possible." Kirisawa said. "They set off explosions in different locations in Tokyo based on a code, Tsubasa wo Kudasai'."

"What do you mean?" Nomura asked.

"If you look at this map of Tokyo recovered from the hideout of the terrorists, you'll see that the terrorists have split the city into 52 blocks, each one labeled with a sound from the Japanese Syllabary. Bombs were planted in the blocks labeled, 'tsu', 'ba', 'sa', 'wo', 'ku', 'da', 'sa', and 'i.' Bombers were planted near embassies in the 'da' and 'sa' areas yesterday. We were able to prevent the explosion in the 'da' block but the bomb went off in the 'sa' block. It exploded near the entrance to an embassy."

The bomb in the 'sa' block must have happened when I was tied up in that abandoned building.

"The hotel where the international summit is supposed to be held is located in the last area, 'I' block." Kirisawa said.

Everyone in the room was silent, the 1st unit's Lieutenant Itoi looked doubtful.

"But how much can we really trust what this 'king' person said? We can strength security at the summit. Anyone who even gets close to the premises with anything resembling a bomb, will be arrested on the spot." Itoi said.

"Stone, you were the one who heard King say all of this, correct?" Kirisawa asked.

"Yes. They were planning on killing me, so they spoke freely in front of me." I said.

"Why didn't he kill you? And why did he tell you his plan to begin with?" Itoi asked.

He was glaring at me; he was starting to annoy me. How dare he question me!

"Thankfully, I escaped before I was blown up into a thousand pieces." I snapped putting enthusiasts on the word blown. "And it's just a theory, but I would presume that he spoke about his plan in front of me because he showing off."

"What do you mean?"

"He probably wanted to show off his bomb-making skills and his plan. He seemed like the kind of person who really craves the respect of others. At least, that was the impression I got from listening to him talk." I said.

"I agree with your assessment. King talked about 'changing the world' and 'saving the country'. It's highly likely that he thinks of himself as some sort of 'chosen one'. People like that usually crave a certain amount of limelight, they'll leave a calling a card at crimes scenes or tell others about their criminal plans. If he really wanted to, he could successfully bring his plans to fruition without bragging, but he's not the type." Hanai said.

"I think I'm starting to get an idea of the type we're dealing with." Kyobashi said.

"Hmm.." Nomura said and looked thoughtful for a moment but his expression changed to one of determination when he began to speak. "So, about our next steps in this case. First of all, the summit cannot be cancelled or postponed."

"Has that already been decided?" Kirisawa asked.

"The summit may be taking place in Japan but it's an international event. The eyes of the world will be on us, and if we cancel it, Japan will look bad. Those orders are coming directly from the Chief Commissioner of the MPD. We've either got to catch these terrorists before the day of the summit, or we've got to step up security and stop them from planting the bomb on the day of the event. 1st unit and 2nd unit will be working together to bring this group to justice. 1st unit will be responsible for security at the hotel on the day of the summit. I want 2nd unit to patrol the surrounded area."

"Just the surrounding area?" Kirisawa asked. "Tennoji and Stone were the ones to find King, they should be at the center of this investigation."

"Kirisawa, please. These are orders from above." Nomura said.

I saw Itoi grin slyly, everyone in the 2nd unit knew exactly what that grin meant. He was going to follow the orders to the letter, he was only interested in getting a promotion.

I glared at him back, making him look away. How could they do this to us? After everything me and Tennoji had been through to get this information? We almost died for god sake!

I clenched my fists in anger but kept quiet.

"Let's not lose sight of our real goal; protecting people. I want everyone to do their best in their assigned roles." Nomura said.

"Yes sir!" we all said.

Kirisawa insisted that I took a few days to recover from everything, not that I was complaining. I needed some time off plus, this evening was my university reunion.

I said goodbye to everyone and headed to my apartment, I had the whole day to myself till my reunion this evening. I got changed into my gym wear and went to the gym for a few hours, it had been a while since I had been to the gym. I was so busy working lately, I had barely gone out or even seen any of my friends.

At my gym was also a boxing ring on the top floor. I spent a couple of hours downstairs, running on the treadmill, doing weights etc before I went upstairs and practice self defense. I first worked on the punching bag before I spared with a random guy at the gym.

When I got home, it was nearly 0400pm. I had a shower, made myself dinner before I got ready for the reunion. I decided to wear a black strapless dress with small heels. I wore my hair up in a messy bun.

A few hours later, I was stood in the reunion hall. The party was being held in a huge hall, a buffee had been put out. Waiters walked around offering people drinks, a band played on the stage.

"Well, so you made it." Aya said.

I turned and saw her stood with Mami, they both wore dresses and had their hairs up in a fancy updo.

"Hey!" I beamed and hugged them both.

"I'm surprised you're here, aren't you always at work?" Mami asked.

"You saying I'm a workaholic?" I asked.

"Yes. How's your case going? Have you caught the bombers yet?" Aya asked.

"I can't really talk about it but anyway, I want to get drunk. Things have not been easy the past few days." I said.

I grabbed a wine glass from a waiter as he walked past me and downed it in seconds.

"It's not your crappy partner again is it?" Mami asked.

"Tennoji? No! We've getting on really well recently." I said.

A little too well. I thought back to the kiss when we were in the water. We hadn't really spoken since then.

"So what is it?" Aya asked.

"It's worked related so I can't really talk about it." I said and grabbed another glass and downed that one as well.

"Whoa, go easy on the wine." Mami said.

"Why? She's always been able to hold her alcohol." A voice said.

I turned around and a smile formed on my face. Stood behind me, dressed in a black suit was my ex-boyfriend Tom.

"Whoa!" I gasped as I got a good look at him.

He had short blond hair but he was almost twice the size from when I last saw him, his muscles were literally ready to burst out of his suit.

"I know, I look great don't I?" he said with a smug smile.

"Arrogant as always. You haven't changed much have you?" I asked.

He looked so hot! Hotter than when we were dating, I couldn't take my eyes off his handsome face.

"And you look as hot as always. Can I get you a drink?" he asked.

I smiled "Yes. A cocktail would be great." I said.

I slipped my arm through his and we walked to the bar. He got me a martini and we sat at the bar together.

"So, how have you been?" I asked.

"Fine. The army gave me this week off for the reunion." He said.

"That's good, if I'm honest I didn't think you were going to make it but I'm glad you did."

"You seem to be doing well, enjoying being a detective?" he asked.

I nodded "It's stressful but I'm loving it! How's the army? Where have you been stationed now?"

Tom was a sniper in the army and an ammunitions technician, we did basic training together and went to University together.

"Iraq, Scotland in England and Afghanistan." He said.

He then gazed at me.

"What?" I asked.

"You're wasted in the police force. You would have made an excellent sniper; you were always a good shot. You should come back, I'm sure your father could pull a few strings."

"Hm! Yeah right, he would love that. Just another way for him to try and control me. No, I'm happy where I am."

He shrugged "As long as you're happy. Are… are you seeing anyone at the moment?"

Tennoji flashed in my mind briefly but nothing was ever going to happen there.

"No I'm not, are you?"

A smile spread across his face "No."

"Really? And you're here for a week you said? Where are you staying? You're more than welcome to come and stay around mine." I said.

"Inviting a man back to your apartment, Freya Stone!" he said pretending to be shocked.

I laughed and took hold of his hand, we linked fingers. His hands were just as firm as I remembered, his skin was as soft as silk.

"Well, if you don't want to come around mine you don't have to." I said.

He stood up and pulled me up against him, he wrapped his arms around my waist and planted a soft kiss on my lips.

"I never said that. Shall we go or do you want to stay here for a bit?" he asked.

I looked around at everyone, I didn't really want to come out. I only came out for the free alcohol, I just needed to do something. Something to release all this tension. I was fed up of being alone and being in life threatening situations. I left the army for a reason, I just wanted a normal life and a boyfriend to love me and cared for me.

"Let's get out of here." I said and pulled him with me as I headed for the door.

We got a taxi back to mine, the moment I opened the door I pulled him in. He kicked the door closed and I pinned him up against the door and kissed him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, he lifts me up and carried me over to my bedroom and threw me onto the bed.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked as he climbed on top of me.

I grabbed his shoulders and rolled him onto his back so I was on top.

"Oh I'm sure, you have no idea how badly I need this!"

I leaned in and kissed him again. He sat up holding me against him, he pulled the zip down the back of my dress and pulled it off my body. I removed his coat and shirt and threw them to the floor.

I ran my fingers along his arm, chest and his six pack, he definitely wasn't this hot when we were together.

The next morning, I woke up in his arms. My head was resting on his chest and he held me tight.

"Morning." He whispered in my ear and planted a kiss on my forehead.

"Mmm. Morning. Last night was amazing; you've learnt some new moves." I said and looked up at his handsome face.

He laughed "Why thank you. You've lost weight since I last saw, you're more toned. You been keeping up with your fitness?"

I felt his big fingers run up and down my back, making me giggle.

"Of course I have. I run 10 miles day, I do self-defense classes three times a week plus I go to the gym whenever I can." I said.

"See, you belong the in army."

"Don't go on." I said and sat up.

I turned and looked at my clock, it was only 6am. I needed to go for my run and since I wasn't working today, I needed to go to the gym.

As I started to get out of bed, Tom pulled me back.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"Shower, run, gym and then breakfast."

"Can't we just stay in bed for a little longer?" he asked.

"No, I need to go. You can stay here if you want." I said and pushed him away.

I got out of bed and climbed into the shower, as I quickly scrubbed myself clean Tom stepped into the shower.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"Showering, what do you think?" he said.

He took a step closer and pinned me up against the wall and started kissing my neck. He knew that was my sweet spot, I wrapped my arms around him and held him close. He moved his lips up my next till they came to my mouth.

"Enough. You're ruining my morning routine." I said and pushed him away after we kissed.

He sighed "You're really going for run when you've got me to keep you busy?" he asked.

"Yeah, now get out." I said and kicked him out of the shower.

10 minutes later, I finished my shower and dried off. I got changed into my running gear only to find Tom waiting in the living room wearing sports gear.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Going running and the gym with you, what does it look like?" he said with a cheeky smile.

"Fine but only if you can keep up."

"Ha! I've always been faster than you. Let's see how unfit you are since you left the army." He said before running out of the door.

"Hey! Cheater!" I shouted.

I grabbed my door keys before I ran after him. We sprinted down the street till we reached a nearby park and did several laps.

3 hours later, I was leaning against a tree panting as Tom walked up behind me. We were both covered in sweat and out of breath.

"I'm impressed." He said and smiled.

"Thanks. Told you I was fast." I said and wiped the sweat from my brow. "I can't really be bothered to go to the gym now. Let's head back for breakfast, I'll cook."

"Sounds good." He agreed.

We held hands as we walked back. I looked down at our hands, this felt so natural. It was as if we had never broken up. We use to do this every morning when we were together and I would always make breakfast. For the first time in ages, I didn't feel alone.

When we got back to my apartment, I made us both poached eggs on toast with Tea and orange juice.

"Freya, just so I'm clear what's happening here?" he asked.

"Uh.. we're eating breakfast..?"

"No, I mean with us. I know you're not interested in having a long distance relationship, that's why you ended things before. I just want to know where I stand before we do anything more." He said.

I sighed and put my fork and knife down. "Nothing's changed, I don't want a long distance relationship. Why can't we just enjoy our time together?"

He was only here for a week anyway.

He looked disappointed and looked away for a moment.

"Fine. I have to say, it feels weird us being like this again. It's almost like we'd never broken up."

"Yeah. It's nice." I said and continued eating.

"Your appetite hasn't changed though. Four poached eggs and four slices of toast? How are you not fat?"

I just shrugged "I dunno, my body needs food to run."

He chuckled "Remember when we were in Uni, we entered you in that all you can contest and you won?"

My stomach turned at the memory "I was so sick after that; I could barely move. I spent all night vomiting and you stayed off school to look after me the next day."

He laughed "The judges couldn't believe that such a tiny thing like you managed to win. It was great!"

His laugh, it was so loud. It filled my heart with joy, I was glad that he was here. I reached out and took hold of hand and gave it a squeeze.

"I've got the day off work today, what would you like to do?" I asked.

He shrugged "I don't mind. A shower would be good; I smell from that run. Care to join me?"

"After food, I'm still hungry." I said and continued eating.

Once we had finished eating, we both took a shower together before we went out for a walk around town and did a bit of shopping. And that night, we spent another night of passion together.

The next evening, I was sat in Tennoji's car.

"Mikami, is this dude ever gonna show up?" Tennoji said.

We had received intel saying that Mikami would be heading here, we were on a stake out.

"This sucks, he's never gonna show."

"Patience's is a virtue you know." I said.

He briefly glared at me before sighing.

He had barely looked me in the eye since I got the car with him, things were still awkward since the kiss. We still hadn't spoken about it.

"Hey, you.." he said.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Nothing.."

He shifted his gaze to look out of the window. This was all I was getting from him since we had started the stake out. I just needed to lighten the atmosphere, start some kind of conversation.

"That reminds me." I said.

"Hm?"

"What do you put on sunny-side-up-eggs? Soy cause or okonomiyaki sauce?" I asked.

"That's a random question." He said.

"I was talking about it with Eiki earlier. I definitely like soy sauce better."

"I like mayo."

"Mayo? Gross." I said.

But the conversation fell silent again, it was always so easy talking to Tennoji. This was so annoying; why couldn't things just go back to how they were?

"I have to say, I'm annoyed." I said.

"About what?"

"About the 2nd unit being asked to protect the area around the summit. 2nd unit has been responsible for all of the breaks we've had in the case so far, it's doesn't seem right for the 1st unit to be taking center stage. I blame Lieutenant Itoi. He must be trying to make 1st unit look good as he can get a promotion."

"So? Who cares?" he said.

"Huh?"

I didn't expect that response, I thought he would agree with me.

"Somebody's gotta protect the area around the hotel."

"That's true but I can't help but feel like he's trying to hog all the glory." I said.

"So.. did you become a cop for the glory? Are you working this case for a promotion?" he demanded.

"No but-"

"Then don't worry about what 1st unit does. It's like Nomura said, this job is about protecting people. All that other stuff is just noise."

He was right, he was very devoted to his job.

"I suppose so." I agreed.

"But anyway, I hope we can catch these guys before the day of the summit. But this stakeout.."

He looked like he was giving up.

"Don't give up now, I'll go and get us some drinks from that convenience store. We might be here for a while, so we'd better be prepared." I said.

"What're you so motivated for all of a sudden? Pfft, weirdo."

"Would you rather I be un-motivated? Anyway, I'll be right back." I said and got out of the car.

I walked into the store and returned minutes later.

"Got it." I said.

"Oh thanks.. huh? What the hell?"

"I didn't know whether you wanted a sandwich or a rice ball, so I bought both. And I didn't know what kind rice ball you wanted to I bought every flavor." I said.

"You could feed an army with all this!"

"I just bought enough for two. Stop complaining." I said.

"How many days do you think we're going to be on this stakeout?"

"Did I really buy that much? I thought this was a normal amount.." I said and looked down at my shopping bags.

Tennoji looked at me in disbelief and then blurted out;

"Stone, you're freaking hilarious, ya know that? I'm never bored when you're around."

"Should I take that as a compliment?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I mean it in a good way, you're… soothing."

"Soothing? What am I, a throat lozenge?" I asked.

"What? I just mean you make me feel… good. You tryin' to be a comedian with that 'throat lozenge' comment?" he said and laughed loudly.

I chuckled to myself, things were starting to turn back too normal. Stakeouts were tough but being with Tennoji was quite fun.

"Have you always eaten this much Stone?" he asked as we both went through the bags and started to eat.

"Yeah, when I was in school my friends used to tease me, 'Did you bring your Dad's lunch by mistake?"

"I could see that happening. What do you do on date?" he asked. "Chick always pretend like they don't eat on dates."

"What do I do on dates? I always ate before I went out, I wanted to make a good first impression. I didn't want a guy to think that I eat a lot." I said.

"But you eat in front of me."

"And? It's not like that with you." I said.

"By the way, how was your reunion? Was your ex there?" he asked.

I hadn't told him about Tom yet. Considering how things have been between us, I thought it would be best not to mention it but I couldn't lie to him.

"Um.. yes, he was there. I saw him and we exchanged numbers." I said.

"For real? Do you still like him?"

I just shrugged, trying to play it cool.

"It was good to see him again, he's changed a lot." I said.

"So what kind of dude is this guy? What's his deal? Who's better, me or him?"

How did we get onto this conversation?

"Are you always so interested in other people's ex-boyfriends?"

"No, but I'm interested in yours Stone. So answer. Who's better, me or him?"

"I'm not going to answer that, no comment." I said.

"No comment? What is this, a press conference? Quit playin'. Who's better, me or him?"

I turned away and refused to answer.

"Well whatever, go meet him if you want. I know you're not goin' back to him."

"Oh really? And how do you know that?" I asked.

How arrogant could he get? I was tempted to tell him that me and Tom had hooked up but I decided not to mention anything.

"I just know."

"Don't talk about stuff you don't understand."

"I do understand." He said.

"And why do you think you understand?" I asked angrily.

"Because I do!" he shouted back.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

We stared at each other intently, he looked like he was struggling to say something. I turned away first.

"You don't understand anything; you don't know anything about me." I said and folded my arms.

"I know more than you think." He said.

I felt him place his hand on my shoulder.

"Look at me." He said.

I refused.

"Stone."

He grabbed my chin and forced me to look him in the eye. He brought his face closer and closer till his mobile started to ring.

I sighed as he released me, for a moment I thought he was going to kiss me. My heart pounded, this was crazy.

"Hello? Oh boss. We're in front of Mikami's parents' house… no, we're in the car. Huh? What? Understood, we'll head back now." He said and hung up.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Mikami was spotted in another location. This really was a waste of time. Let's go back to 2nd unit." He said.

He was back to his normal self again. He started the engine and we drove off.

A few hours later,

"So this bar is suppose to be pretty cool, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, we come here all the time." Tennoji said.

After the stakeout, we met up with the others at a bar called The Station. It was close to MPD, so the guys came here pretty often.

"Hey! Tennoji! Stone! We're over here." Kirisawa shouted and waved his arms.

"Hi." I said.

"You guys started drinking without us?" Tennoji asked.

"We had to, you guy took foreeeeeeeever!" Eiki said.

We sat down at the table with everyone else. I first ordered myself some food, I was still hungry. I then ordered me and Tennoji some beers. A tall man walked up from behind the bar and started talking to me.

"Hi, I'm Agasa, the manager."

He had wavy purple hair, he kind of reminded me of a surfer.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Freya." I said.

"I know. I heard a rumor that there's a pretty girl in 2nd unit."

"Stone, don't let this bartender bother you. He wants to write a mystery novel so he's always asking about our cases. Don't tell him anything too juicy or he'll steal it." Kirisawa said.

"How rude. I don't steal. Freya, come by and have a drink whenever you like, ok?" Agasa said.

"Sure, thanks." I said.

He was really nice.

My food then arrived, I had ordered a medium pizza and a plateful for pasta with a tomato based sauce.

"It's unusual to see you out here drinking with everyone, Boss." Kyobashi said.

"Well, as you guys know we've hit a wall in this case. I thought this would be a good time for a break and a change of scenery." Kirisawa said.

"Yeah." Asano agreed.

"It looks like 1st Unit guys are getting pretty frustrated too. They can't seem to make a break in the case." Hanai said.

"Yeah, because they're cutting in on our case." Eiki said.

"But we don't have any new leads either." Kyobashi said.

"Hey, Agasa. Hypothetical question, if you wanted to plant a bomb at an event that had really tight security, how would you do it?" Kirisawa asked.

"An event with tight security… you mean like an international summit?"

"Uh..

"He's sharp." Asano stated.

"Typical mystery novelist." Hanai said.

"Yeah like a summit or the Olympics or something like that." Kirisawa said.

"Hmm.. I would… I guess I would try to drop the bomb from the air."

"The air?"

"Like make a balloon bomb or something. Isn't balloon bomb the name of a song?"

"How the hell would you get a balloon to fall on the spot you wanted to bomb?" Tennoji asked.

"Or I would tie the bomb to a dove or something. Wouldn't it be dramatic to have a symbol of peace drop a bomb?" Agasa said and laughed. "It's a pretty good idea, if I don't say so myself. I'll have to use it in a story."

"A story.." Hanai said.

"It's my own fault, I shouldn't have asked for his opinion." Kirisawa said.

But Agasa might be onto something, I mean nothing's impossible.

"By the way Freya." Agasa said. "You've been eating since you got here. You're so tiny, where do you put all that food?"

I just shrugged "The pasta and pizza here just so good."

"And you just ate all that stuff in the car too. And you're drinking too much. You're never gonna make it in to work tomorrow." Tennoji said.

"Oh sorry mum. I wasn't aware there were rules and besides, it's my day off tomorrow." I said.

"Your day off?" Tennoji asked.

"Oh yeah, Freya doesn't have a shift tomorrow. What do you do on your days off?" Eiki.

"Do you go on dates? I bet she goes on dates!" Kirisawa said.

"That's sexual harassment." Asano said.

If Tom wasn't busy, I'd probably do something with him. Maybe go shopping again?

As I finished my fifth drink, I peered over at the bar and saw Tom stood there. He was surrounded by a group of soldiers.

"Oh god…" I said and quickly ducked behind Tennoji.

I couldn't let Tom see me here, if he saw me then he would come over and the others wound find out about him.

"Stone, what are you doing?" Tennoji asked.

"Nothing." I said and continued to hide.

I peered over his shoulder, Tom was ordering drinks at the bar.

Hanai seemed to follow my eyes "She's looking at the soldier's by the bar." He stated.

"What's wrong? Do you know them?" Kirisawa asked.

They all turned and looked at the group suspiciously.

"No, I don't know them. I'm going to go to the toilet." I said and stood up.

I grabbed my handbag and ran to the toilet to hide. I just needed to wait till he left, he probably wouldn't be here long. Or I could just leave, but if I left the guys would know that something was up.

I waited for ten minutes before I left the toilet. I creeped along a wall and peered around to look at the bar, Tom wasn't there.

"Looking for me?" his voice said in my ear.

I gasped in fright and jumped forwards.

"Don't do that!" I hissed and punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow! What are you hiding for? Want to join me and my friends for drinks?" he said and pointed to their table.

Thankfully it was out of view from my table.

"No, I'm with the guys from work. Look, can you please have one drink and then leave?"

"Why?"

"Because I'm asking you to." I said.

He folded his arms "What's wrong? Don't want me to meet your work buddies? Is the army not good enough for you?" he said with an angry expression on his face.

"No that's not it. I just like to keep work and personal life separate. So please leave."

He sighed "Fine, we'll have one drink and then we'll go."

"Thanks, I'll see you at home." I said.

He tried to kiss me but I pushed him away and went back to the guys.

"What took you so long?" Tennoji asked.

"I didn't realise there was a time limit in the bathroom." I said as I sat down.

"You feeling better?" Kyobashi asked.

"I'm fine, why?" I asked.

"You kinda freaked out on us." Tennoji said.

"No I didn't, you must just be imagining it." I said and shrugged.

I then grabbed Tennoji's beer and took a swig.

"Hey! Hands off!" he snapped and took it from me.

"Think of it as pay back for always stealing my food." I said and poked my tongue out at him.

"You eat too much anyway, think of it as me helpin' ya." He said and smiled.

"Freya never did like to share food her food." A voice said loudly.

I froze, it was Tom. What was he doing here? I turned around and saw him stood behind me smiling.

"Hey, I'm Tom. It's nice to meet you all. Move over mate." Tom said.

He grabbed an empty chair from the table behind us and forced it in between me and Tennoji, making Tennoji move over.

I instantly glared at him "What are you doing here?" I whispered.

"I've come to join you for a drink. So, I assume you're all of Freya's colleagues at the detective agency?" Tom asked and looked around at everyone.

They all starred at me and then looked at Tom, Kirisawa was the first to speak.

"Yes, we work with her at the Special Investigations 2nd unit. Stone, do you know this man?"

"Wasn't he one of the soldiers at the bar that she was hiding from?" Hanai asked.

"Ok first of all I wasn't hiding and yes I know him. This is Tom he's…. a friend from the army." I said.

I could feel Tennoji staring at me, I looked down at the table to avoid his gaze.

"Well, I think I'm more than just a friend. Wouldn't you agree Freya?" Tom said and put his arm around my shoulder.

Why was he doing this?!

"Don't be rude Freya, why won't you introduce me to your colleagues?" Tom asked and gave my shoulders a squeeze.

I grabbed his fingers, bent them backwards and removed his arm.

"Why are you here? I told you to leave." I hissed through gritted teeth.

"Well I didn't want to leave. So, stop being rude and introduce me to your colleagues." He said.

"I don't want to introduce you to my colleagues. Leave."

"Make me."

We both glared at each other.

"Stone, if this guy is bothering you just say the word." Tennoji said.

He was now glaring at Tom.

"Oh really? And what are you going to do?" Tom asked him and shot him a challenging glare.

Tennoji matched it, I could easily see them both fighting. I knew this would happen, Tom always got jealous and now Tennoji's feelings were going to be hurt.

"Tom don't. Just go home and we'll talk later." I said.

"What's wrong? Are you ashamed of me? Am I not good enough for you? I was good enough for you last night and the night before."

I gasped and just stared at him. How dare he bring that up now!

"Tom stop. You're embarrassing me!"

"Oh so now I embarrass you? Is that why you were hiding from me just now?"

"I wasn't hiding from you."

"Yes you were! Why?" he demanded.

We both started to raise our voices and the bar was starting to fall quite the more we argued.

I glanced at Tennoji, our eyes met. He had such a pained expression on his face, I couldn't bare it.

Tom followed me gaze and then scoffed.

"I see. So, this chump stole you from me did he?" he asked.

"Who you calling Chump?!" Tennoji shouted.

I jumped up from my chair causing it to fall over backwards "Tennoji hasn't done anything but even if he has, it's none of your business!"

Tom then jumped up from his chair and we were stood head to head. "I'm going out with you so it's my business!"

"We are not going out. I told you that I wasn't interested in having a relationship with you and you agreed to that arrangement."

"Well, I'm changing that arrangement. I want to become your boyfriend."

He tried to take hold of my hand but I pulled it away.

"Don't touch me. You must be crazy if you think I'm even going anywhere near you after this. You've embarrassed me in front of my friends and my colleagues, I cannot believe you."

I turned to the table and grabbed my purse. "I'm going home and in case it wasn't obvious, you can find somewhere else to sleep tonight." I then turned to the guys "I'm sorry about this. I'll see you guys at work."

"Stone, do you want a lift home?" Tennoji asked.

"No, I'm just going to get a taxi." I said.

I shoved Tom out of way as I stormed out of the bar. How could he do that to me?! What an asshole!

The next morning, I had several missed calls from Tom and from Tennoji. Hanai Kirisawa and Eiki had also texted me to make sure that I was ok. They were so sweet.

I got up and got ready to go for my 10 mile run. I ran around the streets and then headed to park, after my second lap around the park I noticed someone following me behind.

I pulled out my ipod headphones "Go away Tom."

"Nope, not until you talk to me." He said and ran up beside me.

"I don't want to talk to you, get lost." I said.

I started to run faster but he matched my pace. So I went even faster till I was sprinting, I continued to sprint till I couldn't go anymore I collapsed by a tree.

"See? Now you have no choice but to talk to me." He said as he stood over me.

We were both covered in sweat and breathing heavily.

"Tom.. get.. lost. I don't want to hear what you have to say." I said and glared at him.

"Freya, I'm sorry. I just… I saw you with that guy and I got jealous. And when you asked me to leave I just… I'm sorry." He said.

"You know, I thought that maybe you had grown up in the last two years but clearly I was wrong. You were always so jealous, the moment any guy came over to me you would be there instantly ready to fight them." I said.

"I have grown up and I have changed. I promise that this won't happen again. Please, just give me one more chance."

I studied his face, he did look remorseful but I wasn't going to give in easily.

"Too late." I said.

I stood up and started to walk back to my apartment. Tom moved quickly and blocked my path, he then got down to his hands and knees.

"I love you Freya and I don't want to loose. Please forgive me. Please!"

There weren't that many people in the park but they had all stopped and were watching us.

"People are starring. Get up."

"No, not until you give a second chance. Please Freya. I don't want to let you go, I love you! I rang my boss, I've got tons of holiday to take and they've given me a month off. That's a whole month that I can prove myself to you. Please!" he begged and held his hands up in the air.

I could hear the people around starting to mutter to themselves.

"Get up off the floor!"

"No, forgive me. Please!"

"No." I said and tried to walk around him.

He moved and blocked my path again "Please Freya! Please!" he shouted at the top of his lung.

"Ok ok. Just get up off the floor, you can come back to mine and we can discuss this properly."

A smile spread across his face and he instantly jumped to his feet.

"Lead the way." He said.

I poked my tongue out at him and walked past. We walked to mine in silence. I unlocked the door and we walked in, he went straight to the living room and sat on the sofa.

"You've got five minutes to make your case." I said.

"I know I hurt you Freya and I plan on making it up to you in whatever way I can." He said.

"Oh really? In whatever way you can?" I asked.

A very evil thought popped into my head, I could make him really suffer for what he did to me. This could actually be quite fun.

"Ok, let's see what you got. Impress me and if I think you deserve to be forgiven then I will. But you have to do some serious groveling."

"Fine, whatever you want. We can start right." He said and jumped off the sofa.

"Ok. For starters you can make me breakfast as I shower. And then you're going to take me into town for shopping and lunch."

"Fine. Go and have a shower." He said and rushed to kitchen.

I chuckled to myself, this really was going to be fun!

A few hours later,

"I think these diamond earrings will match my diamond bracelet and diamond ring perfectly. Don't you Tom?" I asked.

I was stood in one of the most expensive jewelry shop in Tokyo. I was stood by a display cabinet looking at all the diamond jewelry.

"Freya, this is turning into extortion." Tom grumbled.

He was stood behind me holding all of my shopping bags. He had already bought me new shoes, new clothes, a bracelet and a ring. I was wearing one of the dresses he had bought me.

"No, you said you would do anything to make me forgive you. This is what I want you to do and you want me to forgive you, don't you?" I asked.

He sighed "Yes."

"Good. Then we'll take these diamond earrings please." I said to the shop clerk.

"Yes ma'am." The clerk said.

She brought me the earrings and I put them in. I walked over to a nearby mirror and happily admired myself. I looked perfect, I couldn't wait till the girls saw this. I had never had diamond jewelry before and the dress I was wearing was very expensive as well.

"So, lunch time. I'm starving." I said and pulled Tom out of the shop.

He looked miserable and I was loving it!

"Where do you want to go?" he asked.

"I would love some Sushi." I said and led the way to my favourite Sushi restaurant.

As we walked down the street, my phone started to ring.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey, it's me." Tennoji said.

"Oh hey." I said.

I hadn't spoken to him since last night, he must be so upset.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"Shibuya. Why?"

"Ok, I'm heading there now."

"Did something happen?" I asked.

"We arrested a man who could be King. You're the only one who knows what King looks like. We need you to tell us if this guy is him or not."

"Ok, I'll see you in a bit." I said and hung up.

"Who was that?" Tom asked.

"Work, I need to go and identify a perp. You go home, I'll see you there when I get back." I said.

"Ok, good luck." He said.

He leaned in for a kiss, I moved away and stepped back from him.

"I'm not there yet." I said.

"Fair enough. I'll see you later." He said.

He took my shopping bags and walked off.

He was trying really hard and I knew I was being very unreasonable, I was surprised that he was going along with this. Maybe he had changed, if only slightly. I still didn't know what I was going to do about Tom, I still had feelings for him and I wanted to be with him but after the other night… I couldn't be dealing with someone like that. I felt so confused.

A few minutes later, Tennoji pulled up in his car.

"Tennoji, I'm over here." I said and waved.

"Hey, sorry for taking so lo-" he said but then stopped dead in his tracks as he walked up to me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothin'. You're dressed like a girl." He said.

"Dressed like a girl?" I questioned.

I was wearing a dress, so what?

"I didn't recognize you. You usually wear really un-sexy stuff, like suits. Where you going dressed all cute like that? You're not with that guy from the bar are you?" he asked.

"Well-"

"You're not really going out with that asshole are you?"

"It's none of your business what I do on my days off or who I go out with." I said.

"Maybe, but I wanna know!" he said.

He looked me up and down suspiciously.

"You could do better than him ya know. Anyway, sorry for calling and interrupting you. Let's hurry and do this so you can get back to your date. Here, get in the car."

We walked over to his car and he opened my door and I climbed in. He started the car and we drove off.

"So, this due you're out on a date with. What's he like? Why were you hiding from him at the bar?" he asked.

"I wasn't hiding from him at the bar. I just… I don't like to get work and personal stuff mixed up. There needs to be a line. Anyway, I haven't apologized for what he did. He was a real jerk at the bar."

"Yeah he was so why are you dating him?"

"I'm not dating him… it's complicated." I said.

"So who is he? Is he your ex?"

I remained silent. I didn't want to talk about this right now, at least all with him.

"Well, I don't know who this guy is that you're dating, but you're not gonna find a man in this world better than me."

I turned and gave him stern look "Oh, you really think so?"

"I do." He said with a smug smile.

Hm! Arrogant as always. Things were just getting more complicated, the more time I spent with Tennoji the weirder things were becoming between us. Though he was probably right.

"So, about identifying King." I said.

"Oh yeah. The guy we picked up works for a company in Tokyo." He explained.

Tennoji looked like his normal self, things were finally back too normal between us.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Tennoji drove us to the interrogation room to the see the guy they picked up, but the man was not the king.

"He does resemble the King, but the height and clothes are all wrong. He isn't the king." I said.

"Oh.. Damn. Sorry to drag you down here for nothing." Tennoji said.

"It's ok, no problem." I said and smiled reassuringly at him.

"I'll give you a ride back. Where's your date waiting?" he asked.

"My date?"

"Yeah, where's the dude waiting?"

Oh he must mean Tom.

"It's fine, I told him to go home and besides, I don't really want to see him anyway. I'm still upset about how he acted at the bar. He was such a jerk; I couldn't believe him. He was trying to make things up to me today." I said.

I didn't want to talk to Tennoji about this but I just had to talk to someone about it.

"How about going on a date with me?"

"Huh?" I said not sure if I heard him correctly.

"I mean, I would have to come back to work later, but we could go somewhere for a little while. I promised we could do eat those caramel mackis, right?"

"I already told you, they're drinks. Not food. I swear, you never listen to me." I said firmly.

He chuckled "Come on, let's go."

He grabbed my hand and dragged me back to his car.

Was this really happening? Going on a date with Tennoji? I felt so guilty, I was technically going out with Tom. And Tom was trying hard to make things right with us but he was such an asshole last night. I felt so confused, but what was the harm in hanging out with Tennoji? It's not like anything was going to ever happen between us.

Tennoji brought me to a park near the sea.

"They don't sell your macchiatos, Stone." He said. "So, I got you ice cream instead. Do you want vanilla or chocolate?"

"Chocolate."

"Ok, then. Here, you get vanilla." He said and handed me an ice cream.

"Hey! I said wanted chocolate."

He laughed and started eating his ice cream with a mischievous, childlike look on his face.

"Whoa. This shit is good!" he beamed.

"What a jerk!" I said and poked my tongue out at him.

We sat next to each other on a bench and looked out at the sea.

"I haven't done something like this in forever." He said.

"Why did you bring me to the sea?" I asked.

"Because this is a date. You gotta go to the sea on a date. I haven't been on a date in a long time. Stone, where do you like to go on da-"

He stopped mid-sentence, there was a boy sitting nearby staring intently at his ice cream.

"You want my ice cream?" Tennoji asked him.

"They sold out of chocolate." The boy said.

"Oh yeah… I bought the last one. You want mine?"

"Can I really have it?" the boy asked.

Tennoji smiled and gave the boy his ice cream. The boy happily thanked Tennoji and skipped off.

"Thanks Mister!"

"No problem kid." Tennoji and waved as the boy went away.

"Ok, so you won't give me a chocolate ice cream but you'd give it to a kid?" I asked.

"Yup!" he beamed and gave me a cheeky grin.

"You're really good with good kids." I said and laughed.

"Obviously. I'm good with everyone. Anyway, Stone.. how's your vanilla?" he asked.

"It's really good." I said.

"Don't eat all of it. Gimme some!"

"Only if you say the magic word." I said and held my ice cream away from him.

"But I was the one who bought it."

"And then you gave it to me. So what's the magic word?" I asked.

"Who cares? Gimme!"

We started to fight over my ice cream, I tried to move it away from him as he tried to grab it.

"Get off!" I said and hit his hands away.

He then grabbed hold of it, he laughed triumphantly and took a big bite from it.

"Yesss! I got some! I am the ice cream championnnnn!"

"Hey!" I tried to pull my ice cream free but as we fought, I ended up dropping it on the floor.

"Whoa. What did you do that for?" he demanded.

"Well it's your fault for trying to steal my ice cream."

"Man… you dropped all of it. I guess I'll go buy one more." He said with a heavy sigh.

As he stood up, his phone started to ring.

"Hello? Oh Boss. Ok, I'll head back now." He hung up, he then turned and looked at me. "Sorry."

"It's ok, go. I'll get the train home." I said.

"I'll take you part of the way home." He offered.

"That's ok. I want to sit here like this a little longer." I said.

"You do?"

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I just don't want to go home yet. I'm fine, seriously go. Kirisawa will be made if you keep him waiting. Go." I said.

"Later." He said and waved as he walked away.

I waved back and watched him till he disappeared.

I sighed and looked out at the ocean, I couldn't keep going like this. I needed to decide, I needed to make a decision. I had feelings for Tennoji, I didn't know what they were but there was something there. But I also had feelings for Tom. I needed to choose and whoever I chose, I needed to stand by my decision and stop leading them both on.

I stayed by the ocean for a little while longer before I headed home. I unlocked my door and stepped in to find that my apartment was filled with lit candles. Tom was sat on the sofa, he was holding a bouquet of roses and he had cooked a meal. There was a bottle of wine on the table as well.

"Hey." I said and closed the door.

"Hey. Did you identify the perp?" he asked.

He stood up and handed me the flowers. I buried my face into the flower and inhaled their sweet scent, roses were my favourite flowers.

"No, it wasn't him. You did all this for me?" I asked.

"Yeah, like I said, I don't want to lose you. I love you Freya."

He placed both of his hands on my waist and pulled me towards me and planted a soft kiss on my lips.

When we broke apart, I looked around my apartment. This was so romantic; I had only ever seen scenes like this in movies. He really was trying to make things up to me. I looked up at him, he looked serious and remorseful.

"So, you're here for a month?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"And then what happens after that?" I asked.

"I'll be going back to Iraq for 6 months." He said.

I sighed and looked at the floor. Why should I stay with him and get my hopes up if he was just going to leave in the end? I didn't want a long distance relationship like my mother and father. Their relationship was terrible and my father was never around and when he was, he was always such a jerk.

Tom caressed my cheek with his hand and lifted my chin up.

"I know you don't want to end up like your parents but give me a chance. I can make you the happiest woman in the world. Just give me the month, at the end if you still want to end things then that's fine. Just give me the month."

He had such a passionate look in his eyes, how could I deny him when he looked at me like that?

I grabbed the back of his head and pulled him in for a kiss. I dropped the flowers and wrapped my arms around me as the kiss intensity grew. He lifted me up off the ground, turned around and put me down on the sofa. We then started to remove our clothes and before we knew it, we were making love on my sofa.

The next day, I was back at work. Tom came with me on my normal morning run and then gave me a lift to work.

I was at the hotel today, the atmosphere was intense.

"I need you guys to concentrate and search." Kirisawa ordered. "Every room, every hallway. Don't miss anything. The summit it tomorrow."

The day of the summit was almost here, we didn't have long till the attack. We were all at the hotel searching for explosives.

"Stone, what's up with the entrance to the main hall?" Tennoji asked.

"I finished checking it." I said.

"How about the room searches and the ID checks for the people on the upper floor?" he asked.

"All done. I didn't find anything out of the ordinary." I said.

The other MPD units had joined 2nd unit to help search for the bomb. Everyone was working together, rolling up carpets, checking food.

"No slacking until we've found the bomb and caught the terrorists." Kirisawa said. "Check out anything that looks even slightly suspicious. Search every nook and cranny!"

He sure was good at giving motivational speeches.

"Nook and cranny.." Tennoji and then he looked around the hall.

It looked like he had an idea.

"Stone."

"Yeah?"

"See that air vent over there? That counts as a nook or cranny or whatever, right?"

"Oh definitely. It's clearly a cranny." I said.

"These guys tied their bomb to a cat at that embassy. They're definitely creative when it comes to bomb placement." He said.

We exchanged a look before we hurried to the hotel's service room.

"I can't see a thing." He said.

"I can make out the part close to us." I said.

I used my flashlight to illuminate the ventilation duct. It lit up the part of the vent closest to me, but the interior was pitch black.

"What should we do? Do you have a bigger light?" I asked.

"We won't be able to see what's beyond that curve, even with a bright light." He said.

"So what do we do?" I asked.

"We've got crawl into the vent."

"What? No way!"

"If we crawl in, we should be able to check out the entire network of vent. Stone, you go first."

"Me? No. You go first."

"You're smaller than me. You'll be able to fit in places I can't. What's wrong? Scared? I thought you were in army." He said and flashed me a teasing grin.

"I'm not scared of anything, it's just.."

I looked down at my outfit. I was wearing new clothes and now they were going to get ruined by crawling through a horrible, dirty vent. Plus, I was wearing a skirt today. I usually wore trousers but they were all dirty. If Tennoji was crawling behind me.

"What's the deal?" he asked. "If you gotta problem, just say."

"Ok, but can you wait a minute? I want to change clothes."

"We don't have time for that. Geez. What're your worried about this random stuff for?"

He then glanced down at me and suddenly a look of realization crossed his face.

"You think I- As if I care about looking up your skirt. This is serious, we're at work."

"Ok. Fine, I'll crawl in first." I said.

"And if I did happen to see something, it would only be on accident." He said.

I turned and glared at him.

"I'm joking. C'mon, let's go."

I walked over to the vent, I grabbed hold and pulled myself up and into the vent.

"Ugh. This is so gross and it smells." I said as I started to crawl.

This brought back horrible memories of my basic training.

"It looks like there could be something in here." He said.

"There's so much dust. My clothes are going to get dirty." I grumbled.

"What'd you wear a skirt for anyway?" he asked.

"All of my trousers are dirty, I forgot to do my laundry yesterday." I said.

"Oh." He gasped.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I felt something back there." He said.

"Where?"

"About two feet behind me. Shine the light back here."

The vent was narrow and there wasn't a lot of room to move, but somehow I managed to shine the light behind me. The sweat on Tennoji's forehead glistened in the light.

"Shine it over here. Oh, it's just the joint where two pipes meet. Sorry, we can keep going."

"Ok. This is horrible, this is worse than crawling through mud." I said.

The vent was so small; I could barely move. The melt vent scrapped up my knees, elbows and forearms.

"What is your deal? I've never heard an ex-soldier complain so much."

"I left the army to avoid doing stuff like this." I said.

We thoroughly searched the vent, but we didn't find anything that looks like a bomb. We searched the vents on every floor, by the time we made our way up to the roof it was the middle of the night.

"Stone, do you see anything in that vent?" he asked.

"Nope, nothing."

"There's nothing in this one either. So that means the whole ventilation system is clear. Where the hell did these guys plant the bomb?"

"Who knows." I said with a shrug.

I was covered in dirt, my hair was a mess and all of my makeup was smudged. I probably looked like a tramp.

"I can't imagine how they're gonna get past all of the security tomorrow." He said.

We both looked down from the rooftop, the world below us looked lively and bright. Security lights and lights for the tomorrow's summit shone brightly. The roof felt quiet and peaceful in comparison and the lights of the city looked so beautiful.

"Your clothes got all dirty. That sucks, your skirt was cute." He said.

"You're a mess too. You've got soot in your hair." I said.

"Let's wash off over there." He said.

We used a tap on the roof to clean off our hands and faces. I started to wipe my hands off with my handkerchief. Tennoji then stuck his hand out to me.

"What?"

"Dry me off to." He said. "Oh, you.."

"Huh?"

He was looking at my face, he then reached out and touched my cheek with his hand.

"Hey. What are you doing?"

"Relax. Don't move for a sec. You've got soot on you."

He gently wiped soot from my face.

"This must be hard for you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"If you hadn't come to 2nd unit, you wouldn't have to do weird stuff like this. But I guess you're use to it, being in the army an' all." He said.

His hand was still moving, his long smooth fingers caressed my cheek.

"I bet you never thought you'd be crawling through ventilation systems."

"No I didn't. I liked my work in the community safety unit. Things were tough sometimes but nothing like this. It was the complete opposite to the army." I said.

"I bet. Getting transferred to the 2nd unit must've been a stroke of bad luck."

He was caressing my cheek as if he was handling something very precious. There couldn't possibility still be soot on my face.

"Over time every day, getting called in on your days off. You probably don't have any time to hang out with your friends."

"I don't, like today." I said.

"Today? What were you gonna do today?"

"I was just going to go out with some friends, they were visiting today from Kyoto. They were only going to be down for one day. We were meant to go out for dinner and drinks." I said.

"What? Why didn't you say so earlier? I coulda asked somebody from another unit to help me."

"It's ok, this is more important. They understand anyway."

"It's midnight now. You think you're friends are still out drinking? You could meet up with them if you leave now."

"Not like this I can't. And I received a text, they headed back to their hotel. It had been a while since everyone had gotten together. It sounded like that had lots of fun." I said.

"Is that another reason why you wore a skirt today?"

"Well yeah, I was going to meet up with them the minute I finished work. My friends all work in offices, I'm only cop plus I was in the army. I wanted to wear something pretty for once." I said.

"Was that guy going to be there?" he asked.

"You mean Tom?"

"Did you want to wear something pretty because you were going to see him?" he asked.

"What do you care what I wear? It's none of your business." I said.

"Stone, are you seriously saying that to me?" he said.

He was looking at me with his sweet eye look. I couldn't look at him and turned away.

"Hey." He said and put his hand on my shoulder.

I didn't answer him so he turned me around and looked me in the eye.

"I gotta say, I'm kinda glad you didn't meet up with him." He said. "I didn't want you to hang out with him."

My heart started to race, not this again! I had to do something.

"Besides, you know being with me is more fun than some reunion with your friends. I want you stay with me tonight."

"You're joking, right?" I asked.

"Nah, I'm 100% for real. Are you?"

He was looking at me so seriously. He didn't look like his normal, playful self.

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Why? You know why."

"Tennoji, I'm with Tom." I said hesitantly but his expression didn't change.

"Ditch him, I'm better then him anyway."

"You don't know anything about him." I said.

"I know he's not right for you." He said.

He came closer to me and I automatically take a step back. He took hold of my arm and pulled me closer to him.

"hey-oh.."

He held me in a tight embrace, I could feel the pulse of his beating heart.

"Stone.." he whispered in my ear.

His warm breath tickled my skin.

"Wait.."

"I can't wait anymore." He said.

"But…"

"Sorry. I have to."

He brought his face close to mine and pressed his lips against my own. His lips seal over mine, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him even closer. He was so passionate, he kissed me greedily, hungrily. He adjusted the angle of his kiss to explore my mouth deeper.

"Stone.." he whispered with his lips still on mine.

"Mmmm.."

"I don't want to share you. I want you to be mine. Only mine. Forget about that other guy. I'll make you forget all about him." He said.

He then started kissing me again but more intensely. We pulled apart for a moment only to come together once more, each of us still hungry for the other's kiss. Standing on the roof, bathed in enchanting moonlight, we kissed each other insatiably, again and again.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The day after the kiss, I was stood in the shower of my apartment thinking of everything that had happened in my head.

I had cheated on Tom, there was no other way of looking at it. Even if it was just a kiss. I had to tell him, he had a right to know. I got out of the shower, quickly dried off and met him in the living room.

"Morning, you were up early this morning." He said and handed me a cup of tea.

"Tom, we need to talk." I said.

"What's wrong?"

I looked down ashamed "I kissed Tennoji last night, when we finished work."

Tom's face darkened "What?!"

"I'm really sorry."

"Do you have feelings for him?" Tom asked.

I looked up at him and nodded.

"And me? How do you feel about me?"

"I- I like you both but-"

"You can't have feelings for two men. You have to choose, it's either him or me." He said.

Tennoji or Tom?

How could I make such a decision? With Tennoji everything was just so exciting, it felt so natural with him. I loved being with him and all these feelings I had for him were coming to the surface. But with Tom, things were easy and familiar. But if I really thought about it, if I wanted to be with Tom I wouldn't have kissed Tennoji in the first place.

"I'm sorry Tom but… I need to explore my feelings for Tennoji. I'm really sorry, it wasn't my intention to hurt you."

"Hurt me? You've done more than hurt me!" he threw his cup of coffee into a nearby wall, causing it to shatter.

He then grabbed two nearby plates and threw them against the wall. I jumped back and kept my distance, Tom had a temper on him and it could be scary at times.

"Tom, calm down. Look."

I picked up a plastic bag near the sofa, it was everything he had bought me the other day, including all of the diamond jewelry.

"Take it all back and get your money back. I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have led you on when I wasn't sure of my own feelings for you."

He pushed the bag away "I don't want any of those things back. I bought them for you to prove that I loved you. I won't give up."

"What do you mean?"

"This guy, Tennoji? He stole you from me and I won't stop till I steal you back." He declared.

He went to the bedroom, grabbed his bags and stormed out of the apartment.

I sighed, I felt so guilty but it was my own fault. I wondered what was going to happen between me and Tennoji now?

An hour later, I was outside the hotel of the summit. It was barely morning and photographers and reporters were already gathered in front of the hotel.

"The international Summit is scheduled to being in two hours here at the principal Hotel in Tokyo's Minato ward. The area in front of the hotel is crowded with summit participants, security officers, members of the media and spectators. The excitement in the air is palpable." A reporter said into their camera.

The sounds of the crowd in front of the hotel mixed with that of a patrolling helicopter in the air.

Kirisawa frowned and looked up at the sky.

"That's a lot of people." He said.

"It's not just the domestic news, reports from all over the world are here." Hanai said. "The eyes of the world are on the summit."

"We should probably get started." Kirisawa said.

Our morning meeting began as usual, but today we were in the office but standing outside of the hotel. We had searched the premises all night, but we weren't able to find anything. A feeling of restlessness hung in the air.

"Everybody's here, right?" Kirisawa asked. "Good work last night, did anyone find anything suspicious?"

"Fortunately…or maybe unfortunately we didn't find anything." Hanai said. "No bomb, no information about King."

"I see. Our assignment is to patrol the area surrounding the hotel. That means the garden, the parking lot, and the surrounding streets. Now's no time to relax. The bad guys have got to get into the hotel from the outside. We're the last line of defense preventing them from getting in. We can't let up until this is all over. Is that clear?!"

"Yes sir!"

"Asano, I want you to keep an eye on the back parking lot." Hanai said.

"Eiki, I want you to set up a checkpoint on the back streets." Kyobashi said.

The guys all looked even more serious than normal. Today was the day that we were going to catch these guys and lock them up forever. I focused my energies and gathered my thoughts before looking up at the guys.

Tennoji looked up at the same time and our eyes met. I couldn't take my eyes off him, we shared such a passionate kiss last night. I hadn't told him that I finished things with Tom yet, he was probably curious. As we gazed at each other, I noticed that his face started to turn red. He must be remembering our kiss last nice.

Aw, how cute! He was embarrassed.

"Yutaka, are you blushing? Freya too." Eiki said.

"What? What would I be blushin' for? I'm just bloodshot from lack of sleep, that's all." Tennoji said.

I held back laughter, what kind of excuse was that?

"Only eyes get bloodshot, not whole faces." Kyobashi said

"What a simpleton. So transparent." Asano said.

"Hmm… Yeah, Tennoji and Freya have been getting along reeeeally well. How suspicious." Eiki said. "I see them looking at each other with googly eyes sometimes."

"Googly eyes? Aint no way I give anybody no 'googly eyes'!" Tennoji snapped. "I was just checking out her funny-looking face."

"Funny-looking face?" I questioned.

"The fact that you're getting upset just makes this all the more suspicious. But what about that guy at the bar? Aren't you going out with him Stone?" Hanai asked.

Everyone then looked at me, including Tennoji.

"I'm not going out with anyone, at least not anymore. I dumped him." I said.

I saw Tennoji's eye widen in surprise but then the corners of his mouth curled up ever so slightly into a smile.

"Why did you dump him?" Eiki asked.

"Because of what he did at the bar. He was a right jerk." I said.

"So, are you sure there's nothing going on between you and Stone?" Hanai asked Tennoji.

"How could there be anything going on between us? Why would I want to have anything to do with a chick like her?" Tennoji said.

"I think you're confused. You're the one who's not good enough for me." I said to Tennoji.

"What?"

"Keep your rude comments about 'chicks like me' to yourself. Any guy would kill to have some of this." I said and gestured to my whole body.

"Tennoji you're just-"

"Shut up! Chicks are so-"

We ended up arguing back and forth with each other. Eiki and the guys were whispering about us, but we didn't even notice. I was too determined to get the last word.

"You got that?...huh?" Eiki said.

"Very suspicious indeed." Hanai said.

"Their 'friendly teasing' has definitely evolved in to something else." Kyobashi said.

"A lover's quarrel…" Asano said.

"What're jerks whispering about?" Tennoji demanded. "Don't you have work to do?!"

The other guys teasing broke the tension. I relaxed and focused on the job at hand.

It was nearly 9 o'clock, the international representatives were starting to gather for the start of the summit.

"Step back!" a bodyguard shouted. "Make way for the president."

Oh my god, a president was here! I couldn't believe it and I was only a few feet away.

He was surrounded by 10 brawny bodyguards, they seemed to form an impenetrable, very intimidating ring around the president.

I wondered what they would do if he was attacked from the air? Like if he was shot from the fifth floor of a building to something. There's no way anyone could've snuck a gun in here, they would never be able to get past the pat down and bag check.

"The prime minister of Japan has entered the hotel. The president has arrived at the back entrance." A staff member said.

The area around the hotel started to get increasingly hectic, as more and more heads of state arrive.

It was ten minutes to 10 o'clock, it was finally time to start the summit.

"I'm standing in front of the principal Hotel, the international summit has just gotten underway." A reporter said.

"So, it's started." Kirisawa said.

Everything was quite as the summit started. There was no suspicious person in such, much less a bomb. The idea of a bombing is starting to feel more and more unbelievable.

"There's something funny about all of this." Itoi said. "Why would anyone spell out 'Give me wings' with a series of bombing? That was just a coincidence."

"It's not unusual to receive bomb threats before a major summit like this. We got seven the last time the International summit was held in Japan. All nothing more than empty threats, of course" Tokuda said.

"They get all kinds of prank phone calls when these things are held overseas too, but security is always really strict on the day of the summit. They stop and search random cars in the area. The chance of anyone actually managing to sneak a bomb in is extremely low." Urata said.

"Pfft. Terrorism? Those other bombings were probably just random acts of violence with no larger goal." Sonoda said.

"What are the those 1st unit jerks talking about?" Eiki said.

"They're totally disregarding all of the evidence Stone gathered!" Tennoji said angrily.

"Don't let them get to you. I hope they're right and there is no bomb. But regardless, we'd better keep our guard up until the very end." Kirisawa said. "Get everyone together, I want to have a strategy meeting. Meet me outside where we had the morning meeting."

We all looked at a map of the area surrounding the hotel.

"There are three ways into the hotel, and all three of these entrances open up to major roads." Kirisawa said.

"We've set up checkpoints on all three of those roads. The area around the hotel is crawling with security. No one would be able to sneak in close enough to throw a bomb at the building." Hanai said.

"Hmm.." Kirisawa said.

I remembered King's face, I remembered being tied up and seeing the cold-blooded look in his eyes when he set the bomb he tied to me. There was no way a man like that would give up on his plan. He'll do anything he could to make sure 'Give me wings' was successful.

The word wings then caught my attention. I looked up at the sky and saw something reflecting the sunlight into my eyes.

"Whoa, that's bright." I said and shielded my eyes with my hand.

"What's wrong Stone?" Kirisawa asked.

"Just now something-" I began.

Another building, about the same size as the hotel, stood a few hundred yards away in the distance. I could see something shinny on it's roof.

"What do you think that is over there?" I asked.

"Where?" Tennoji asked.

"The shinny thing on the roof of that building." I said and pointed.

It glinted and glittered depending on the way the light hit it. I could see something around the same roof.

"You're right, what is that?" Tennoji asked.

"Is it just my imagination, or is that object getting bigger?" Kyobashi said.

The bartender from the restaurant suddenly popped into my head. He said that if he was planning an attack, he would drop it from the air.

"The sky… the sky!"

"Stone, what it is?" Kirisawa asked.

"Kirisawa, what are the chances of the terrorists attacking from the air?" I asked.

"What?" he asked.

"They must've expected security to be tight on the ground. They must be trying to sneak in through our blind spot." I said.

Just then, Eiki cried out in panic.

"There! It's coming this way!"

The shiny thing from the rooftop was moving closer to us. It was a big silver sphere, at first glance it looked like some kind of hot air balloon.

"What if that balloon is carrying the bomb?" I asked.

Kirisawa gasped.

"Hurry!" Tennoji shouted and he took off running.

We all rushed to the roof of the hotel, by the time we got to the top of the roof we could see the balloon more clearly.

"It's unmanned?" Tennoji said.

"It's being steered remotely." Hanai said

"Oh, look at the bottom part." I said.

A bomb hung from the bottom of the balloon. The balloon was slowly making it's way towards the hotel.

"Could the detonation mechanism also be controlled remotely?" Asano asked.

"No, it's a simple time bomb. It's not that complicated, the kind of normal shock would set off." Kyobashi said.

"That's even worse." Hanai said.

"How can we stop it from exploding?" Kirisawa asked.

"Like I said, that kind of bomb doesn't have any bells and whistles. Destroying it's countdown mechanism without damaging the bomb should stop it from exploding." Kyobashi said.

"Is that possible?" Asano asked.

"What if we popped the balloon?" Tennoji asked.

"The bomb would explode when it hits the ground." Kyobashi said.

"How powerful would the blast be?" Kirisawa asked.

"Oh." Eiki said.

"What is it?" Kirisawa asked.

"The timer." Eiki said,

He was looking at the bomb through a pair of binoculars.

"There's only 4 minutes and 57 seconds left!"

"Five minutes.." Asano said.

"If it reaches the roof within five minutes, we would have time to defuse the bomb." Tennoji said.

"But they've probably timed the detonation to coincide with the amount of time it takes to reach the roof." Hanai said.

"Oh, this is bad." Kyobashi said.

"What's wrong?" Kirisawa asked.

"The wind changed." Kyobashi said.

The balloon had been headed straight for us, but now that the wind was blowing harder, it was swaying side to side like it could pop and crash at any moment. The bomb hung from the bottom of the balloon, swinging wildly in the wind.

"This is bad, the wind is blowing way too hard. The balloon is losing altitude." Kyobashi said.

"It won't even make it to the roof at this rate!" Tennoji said.

"That means.." Hanai began.

"We won't have any time to defuse the bomb." Kirisawa said.

"The balloon will crash into the side of the hotel and explode." Asano said.

We all fell silent and stared at the balloon.

There must be something we could do. I walked up to the edge of roof, the balloon was coming in fast. It was swaying violent, and the bomb looked like it could detach at any moment.

"Evacuate everyone from the hotel." Kirisawa asked.

"Can it be done in under five minutes?" Hanai asked.

"A minute has already gone by, we only have four minutes left." Kyobashi said.

"That doesn't matter, we have to try." Kyobashi said. "Make an emergency announcement. Notify everyone in the building."

There was no way we could get everyone out on time. The distance between the roof and the balloon wasn't a long one, I did longer jumps on the obstacle courses at the army. I didn't see any other way, if I could jump and grab the balloon and stop it from hitting the hotel we could disarm it.

I moved to the edge of the roof and climbed over the safety rail.

"Stone, what are you doing?" Tennoji asked.

"Get down!" Kirisawa shouted.

"Get ready, I'm going to jump and grab the bomb." I said.

The ledge I was stood on was only a foot wide. Tennoji ran up to the safety rail.

"Stone, get back here!"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

As soon as the bomb was close enough, I dived off the edge.

"Stone!" Tennoji shouted.

All of the guys were stood at the rail, watching me as I fell.

For a moment, it felt like I was floating in mid-air. I grabbed hold of the edge of the balloon with one hand before I slammed into the side of the hotel.

"Ahhh!"

I slide down the wall and held out my free hand till it grabbed hold of a window sill and stopped my fall.

"Stone!" Tennoji shouted.

"I'm ok!" I shouted back. "Arg! I've got the bomb."

I dangled in the air, I looked down and saw the street bellow me. It was at least 20 stories high, if I lost my grip I would be a goner.

The bomb was hanging on by a thread, what was I going to do?

"Stone!" Hanai shouted and appeared from the window I was holding onto.

"Take the bomb." I said and held up the balloon.

Hanai took the bomb from me and immediately destroyed the timer. As soon as my hand was free, I grabbed onto the window sill and started to pull myself up.

"Freya!" Eiki shouted.

He and Kyobashi grabbed an arm each and I was pulled in through the window. I landed on my feet but my legs instantly gave out and I collapsed onto the floor. My heart pounded and I felt light headed.

"Oh my god Freya, you're crazy!" Eiki laughed.

"Are you ok?" Hanai asked.

I sighed and placed my hand over my pounding heart.

"Yeah, I think." I said and took a few deep breathes to calm myself down.

As soon as the bomb had been defused, we rushed over to the building that the hot air balloon had been launched from. We saw King and his cohorts attempting to escape from the building's back door.

"Hey! Freeze!" Tennoji shouted.

I got a clear view of King.

"Tennoji, that's King. Right there!" I shouted and pointed.

"Ok."

Tennoji ran at King and tackled him to the floor.

"Lemme go!"

"Don't resist." Tennoji shouted. "You're under arrest for suspicion of terrorism, conspiracy, transportation of explosives and intent to kill!"

He held Kind down and cuffed him. I tackled Mikami down and hand cuffed him, the other guys got the others.

"You're comin' with me." Tennoji said and pulled King to his feet.

Squad cars that had been working the checkpoint, pulled up. We watched as King and his men were loaded into the cars and were driven away to jail.

We had finally caught them; this was all over.

"Here we go. The representatives are exiting the hotel. Everyone is smiling, the first day of the summit looks like it was a success." A reporter said.

The summit ended smoothly with the aid of the MPD security forces on hand. The international media swarmed around the exiting heads of state, Nomura stood off to one side, surrounded by a group of reporters.

"The terrorists responsible for the recent series of bombings were arrested a little after noon today. The leader of the group goes by the moniker King. His real name is Satoshi Suzuki. He's a 25 year old Tokyo resident working for a major electronics manufacturer."

"He makes it sound so easy. I guess Freya diving off the hotel for the bomb won't make the papers." Eiki said.

"Yeah, if they mention our investigation at all, it'll only been a blip, a line or two in the paper at most." Tennoji said.

"It doesn't matter. I don't really care, I only care that we caught King." I said.

"Good on ya Stone. It's like Nomura said, this job is about protecting people." Tennoji said and smiled at me.

"The really scary part is that King turned out to be a regular guy. He's on a researcher or a scientist. He's not an explosives expert. He used readily available materials and information to make lethal bombs. That's really frightening to me."

"Yeah." I said.

"2nd unit exists because crime exists. We live in a dangerous world." Kyobashi said.

"We can't eliminate crime, but we can try." Asano said.

"That's our job." Tennoji said.

I watched the hustle and bustle of the hotel and reflected on my days in the 2nd unit. So many things had happened, good and bad. I got partnered up with Tennoji, working none stop at my new job, risking my life, being taken hostage and almost being blown up three times. None of the people at this summit had any idea what we'd been through to keep them safe.

"Alright, let's get back to the office." Kirisawa said. "We've got to interrogate the terrorists, write some reports and nail down tomorrow's security plan for the summit. We've got a mountain of work waiting for us." Kirisawa said.

"Ugh." Eiki moaned.

"I don't want to hear any moaning or groaning!" Kirisawa barked. "When we finish up, I'll buy you all a round of beers!"

"Really?" Eiki asked.

"Sure, I'm not paying. He's gonna foot the bill." Kirisawa said and pointed to the hotel.

We turned around and saw Nomura saluting us. He had a proud smile on his face.

"Hey Stone." Tennoji said. "Hurry up and get in the car."

"Ok, coming." I said.

I got into the car, Tennoji started the engine and we drove to the office. He stopped outside but didn't move.

"Is everything ok?" I asked.

He turned and looked at me.

"Ow!"

I flicked me hard on the forehead.

"Don't scare me like that again Stone." He warned and wore a scary look on his face.

I smiled, he was worried. He looked cute when he was worried.

"What ya smilin' for?!"

"Nothing." I said and got out of the car.

A few hours later,

"To a case closed. Cheers!" Kirisawa said.

We all met up at the Station bar, after finishing up our work for the day. We were here to celebrate the successful close of a long investigation.

"So, my theory was right." Agasa bragged. "I totally said they would try to drop the bomb from the sky, didn't I?"

"How about you give the MPD entrance exam a try, Agasa?" Kirisawa said. "I'll make sure you get assigned to the 2nd unit."

"No way, putting my life on the line isn't my idea of fun. And unlike a certain someone, I could never make myself jump off a roof."

He glanced at me, I smiled back.

"It was nothing, I just did what I had to do." I said.

"It was more than nothing Stone!" Hanai beamed.

Tennoji was sat next to me drinking his beer.

"Ah. That hits the spot. There's nothin' better than a cold beer after you close a big case!" he said.

"Cheers." I said to Tennoji.

I held up my pint glass, we banged glasses together and I downed the entire beer without stopping to even take a breath.

"Freya, you really are something." Eiki said.

"Thanks." I said and giggled.

"But I wonder what would have happened if we hadn't opened that window when we did." Hanai said.

"Well, Stone really saved the day this time. Freya, have as much to drink as you want!" Kirisawa said.

"Thanks." I said.

I grabbed the pitcher and poured Tennoji a drink a first. His face twisted into a frown as I poured.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! The beer to head ratio should be seven to three. Everyone knows that." He said.

"What does that matter? It's all going to get mixed up in your stomach anyway." I said and started to pour myself a drink.

"It matters! You gotta tilt the glass like this when you pour." He said and demonstrated with his glass.

"Like this?"

"No!"

"Well if you're so clever, you do it." I said and shoved the pitcher and my glass into his hands.

"They're at it again.." Eiki said and laughed.

"Even I'm sick of watching them fight." Hanai said.

"Anybody care to place a bet on whether these two are going out or not?" Kyobashi asked.

"I'll bet you guys $100 they just started dating.." Asano said.

I smiled, the guys were such idiots. Things were finally starting to turn back too normal but I couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen between me and Tennoji now?

"Nice. Now that's how you pour a beer!" Tennoji beamed.

"Hey! That's my glass!" I said and tried to grab it but he held it away and handed me his beer that I hadn't poured properly.

It didn't look any different to me.

"How does it taste?" I asked.

"Amazing! I'm gonna sleep well tonight for the first time in a long time!"

Everyone wanted to celebrate, the guys all kept drinking, I matched them drink for drink. We were all pretty drunk by the time we called it quits for the night.

"Good night." Hanai said.

"Nice work today." Kyobashi said.

"Later." Asano said.

"Who's comin' with me? I wanan get one more drink!" Kirisawa said.

He could barely stand straight and swayed from side to side.

"Uhhhh, no one." Eiki said.

One by one, everyone left to go home until Tennoji and I were the only ones left. He looked at me as if he had something to say.

"Stone." He said.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I'm sleepy." He said.

"And?" I asked.

"We pulled an all-nighter last night, and I haven't been sleeping well in general anyway. I feel like I'm about to die from lack of sleep.." he said.

"I didn't get any sleep last night either, you don't hear me complaining." I said.

"But I worked really late the day before yesterday too. I'm definitely more sleep deprived than you." He said.

"You just have to win at everything, don't you?" I said.

"Hey Stone." He said.

He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and whispered in my ear.

"Can I go to sleep with my head in your lap again?"

I looked at him in surprise, I wasn't expecting that.

"You know, like we did before, when you patted me on the back. I slept like a baby, I want you to do that again."

"You're joking right?"

"I'm straight up serious. I'm always serious."

"Ha! Yeah right and pigs fly." I said and laughed.

"So, can I sleep on your lap? You're my pillow. If a pillow abandons a sleep-deprived dude, that would be like.. like… well I can't think of a good comparison right now."

Use me as a pillow? That was all he was going to do? Nothing else? Geeze, what a joke.

"Anyway, let's go." He said.

He waved down a taxi and forced me into it, I knew he was drunk. He was even pushier than usual.

30 minutes later, the taxi pulled up to an apartment building.

"So, this is where you live?" I asked.

"This is my building. My place is kind of a mess."

"Uh-uh. So, we're just going to your apartment so you can sleep on my lap?" I asked.

"What am I gonna do? Go to sleep with my head in your lap outside? The cops'll catch us." He said.

"We are the cops." I reminded him.

"Stone, listen up." He said.

He put his hand on my shoulder, his face turned serious.

"You shouldn't think so little of me. You're my partner, do you really think I would do something to you?" he said.

That's what he thought I was worried about? I wanted him to do something to me. He had a hot a body, I bet he was great in bed.

Before I could even answer, he started to beg.

"You don't trust me, do you. I just want to be with you for a little longer, Stone.. that's all." He said, looking at me with puppy dogs eyes.

For a second, I thought he was going to cry. I couldn't say no when he looked at me like that.

"Ok, fine." I agreed.

"Yeah!" he beamed.

He happily lead me into his apartment, he could barely walk straight. He swayed a little as he walked. Was he really that drunk? I didn't really feel much, a slight buzz I suppose. But I ate a lot of food which probably helped suck up most of the alcohol plus I could handle my drink. I was the best at drinking contests in the army and University. I stayed close behind him, ready in case he tripped or fell over.

The door to his apartment slammed loudly when it closed behind me.

"You can sit over there somewhere." He said and pointed to a black sofa.

His apartment was similar to mine except that I had a separate bedroom. His bed was part of his living room. It was next to the black leather sofa which faced a flat screen tv and a mixture of black furniture. Including a chest of draws, a book shelf and few boxes.

He said that his place was messy but it was actually pretty neat.

"Is beer ok?" he asked. "'cause beer is all I've got."

"Beer is fine." I said.

He smiled and sat down next to me. He opened a can of beer and handed it to me, before he opened one for himself. We toasted.

"Case closed! Drink as much as you want. I've got tons of beer in the fridge."

"Thanks." I said an smiled at him.

I just realized, this was the first time I had seen him outside of work and in his apartment.

"But if I drink too much more, I'll probably end up falling asleep here." I said.

"You can go to sleep if you wanna. You can even sleep with your head in my lap." He said with a cheeky smile.

"Really? Is your lap comfy?" I asked.

"Obviously. But…I mean, I wanted to go to sleep in your lap, but you worked hard. You deserve a reward."

He then pulled me down so that I was lying with my head in his lap. He looked down at me with a big smile on his face.

"It must be tough for you, working a new job. Plus, you've got to keep up with my pace. It's been rough, huh?"

He then started to stroke my hair.

"Well.. not really. I mean the life and death situations yeah but I think I'm starting to get use to the job." I said.

"Yeah. It sucks, but a cop's never ends. Those criminals just keep us runnin'. We'll probably be busy again tomorrow. Take it easy, at least for tonight."

"Mm. Ok." I said and got comfy on his lap.

"Am I doing the hair stroke thing right?" he asked.

I nodded and smiled.

He was doing it perfectly, just like what I had done for him. My eyelids grew heavy and before I knew it, I started to nod off.

"Tennoji.."

"Hm?"

"I like being your partner." I said.

"Yeah. Me too, you're an awesome partner." He said.

I started to drift off, his lap was more comfortable then my bed.

Hm? What is this feeling? My lips suddenly felt so warm. I opened my eyes and saw that Tennoji was kissing me.

"Hey." I said and jumped up into a sitting position.

I looked at him and he made a face like a little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Damn. And there I was thinking I was going to be able to steal a kiss with a sneak attack."

"Sneak attack?" I questioned.

"You looked so pretty, lying there asleep. I couldn't but want to kiss you. Is that so wrong?"

"No… I just- I don't like sudden surprises like that and besides, you just told me that I could trust you not to do anything."

"Stone, listen."

He put his hand on my shoulder and looked at me seriously.

"Don't write me off like that. You didn't really think I wouldn't do anything, did you?"

"Well-"

He then wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly. He then whispered in my ear.

"You like me, right?"

"I.."

"Do you like me?"

"Yes."

"I like you, so freaking much." He said.

He looked me in the eyes intently.

"I don't care who or what we're up against. Terrorists, ghosts, even the head of the MPD himself. I will always protect you no matter what. Be my girlfriend. What do you say?"

A smile quickly spread across my face, I then pulled him for a quick kiss.

"Yes, I will be your girlfriend. Took you long enough." I said and poked him hard in the chest.

He just responded by lovingly petting me on the head before moving to caress my cheek.

"Stone."

He leaned in, he touched his lips with mine. We shared a deep, slow kiss. He cupped my face in his hands and pressed his lips to mine harder. I kiss back and he responded with an even, deeper more passionate kiss.

"This is bad.." he said.

"Why?"

"No matter how much I kiss you, I can't get enough. I need more than just your kisses."

He pushed me down onto the sofa, our lips still locked together. I held him tight and clung into his chest.

"Stone.. stay here tonight, ok? Even if you say you're going to leave. I won't let you go, I can't."

"I don't want to go." I said.

We kept kissing until our breathing grew hot and ragged.

"Stone.. no. Freya. I love you. I love you so much. I could never be with anyone but you." He whispered.

Oh my god. Did he seriously just say that to me?

His hot lips traveled down to my neck, his kisses moved lower and lower. I gave into him completely, it wasn't long before we started to rip each other's clothing off each other.


End file.
